Philosophical Interpretations of Quantum Physics

Abstract

An appreciable part of the scientific community seems to believe that contemporary physical theories are likely to affect the construction of any overall philosophical outlook, especially insofar as they are relevant to the settlement of certain persistent philosophical controversies. Two physical conceptions — the theory of relativity and the quantum theory — which have brought about a reformulation of the fundamental principles common to all the natural sciences, are considered particularly important in this regard. These conceptions have shed new light, it is held, on a number of problems involving empiricism and rationalism, determinism and indeterminism, materialism and spiritualism, idealism and realism. Such philosophical implications of the theory of relativity and quantum theory have been widely discussed by both philosophers and philosophizing physicists. The trend in this development has been to portray these theories as generally conducive to an idealist stance.