Abstract
Starting from Rothstein’s analysis of the EPR paradox, the logical incompleteness of quantum mechanics and non-separability which implies “the death of atomism” (Primas) are discussed from both physical and logico-epistemological points of view. Indeed, the indeterminacy of the microphysical, simple-elementary entities as fundamental ground of physis involves the breakdown of any kind of reductionism. Reductionism presupposes the possibility of such a determinacy, and so it is nothing else than a particular form of “determinism”. The indeterminate universe of physical processes is non-separable and a physics of the universe as a whole seems to be needed. Furthermore, from a historical and philosophical point of view the principle of separability is shown to be related to the meta-physical project of the technical dominion over nature and the emergence of non-separability in physical theories is analysed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes and references
For these issues, see for example: Giannetto, E. La logica quantistica tra fondamenti della matematica e della fisica , in Foundations of Mathematics & Physics ,ed. by U. Bartocci and J. P. Wesley, Wesley, Blumberg 1990, pp.l07-–127
Giannetto, E. Toward a Quantum Epistemology , in Atti del Convegno S.I.L.F.S. Temi e Prospettive della Logica e della Filosofia della Scienza ,ed. by M.L. Dalla Chiara and M.C. Galavotti, CLUEB, Bologna 1988, pp.121–124
Giannetto, E. (1991), L’epistemologia quantistica come metafora antifondazionistica , in Immagini Linguaggi Concetti ,ed. by S. Petruccioli, Theoria, Roma, pp.301-–322
Giannetto, E. On Truth: A Physical Inquiry , in Atti del Congresso ’Nuovi problemi della logica e della filosofia della scienz; ,I, ed. by C. Cellucci and M. Dalla Chiara, CLUEB, Bologna 1991, pp.221–228
Giannetto, E. Il crollo del concetto di spazio-tempo negli sviluppi della fisica quantistica: l’impossibilità di una ricostruzione razionale nomologica del mondo , in Aspetti epistemologici dello spazio e del tempo ,ed. by G. Boniolo, Borla, Roma 1987, pp. 169–224.
Heidegger, M. Die Frage nach der Technik , in Vortr äge und Aufsätze ,Neske, Pfullingen 1954
Heidegger, M. Wissenschaft und Besinnung , in Vorträge und... ,op. cit.; Giannetto, E. Heidegger and the Question of Physics ,Proceedings of the “Conference on Science and Hermeneutics” (Veszprém 1993), ed. by O. Kiss and L. Ropolyi, Reidel, Dordrecht (in press).
Giannetto, E. Note sulla complessit à : Max Born e la nascita della nuova fisica del caos , in Atti del congresso S.I.L.F.S. Logica e filosofia della scienza: problemi e prospettive ,ed. by C. Cellucci, M.C. Di Maio and G. Roncaglia, Edizioni ETS, Pisa 1994, pp.317–330.
See notes 1,2, 3.
Rothstein, J. Physics of Selective Systems: Computation and Biology ,Int. J. Theor. Phys. 21 (1982), pp.327–350
Primas, H. in Sixty-Two Years of Uncertainty ,edited by A. I. Miller, Plenum Press, New York, 1990, p.233
Primas, H. Chemistry, Quantum Mechanics and Reductionism ,Springer Verlag, Berlin 1983
Primas, H. Time-Asymmetric Phenomena in Biology: Complementary Exophysical Descriptions Arising from Deterministic Quantum Endophysics ,preprint 1988, LFC-Zürich; for a general overview
D’Espagnat, B. Conceptual Foundations of Quantum Mechanics ,Benjamin, Menlo Park, 1971
Bohm D. and Hiley, J.B. The Undivided Universe ,Routledge, London 1993
R. Kitchener (ed.), The World View of Contemporary Physics ,State University of New York Press, Albany 1988.
See, for example: Giannetto, E. The Epistemological and Physical Importance of G ödel’s Theorems , in First International Symposyum on Gödel’s Theorems ,ed. by Z. W. Wolkowski, World Scientific, Singapore 1993, pp. 136–147.
See references given in the paper quoted in the previous note 6.
See papers quoted in note 5.
See also the demonstration of the impossibility to attribute a wave function to a single (one-particle) well-defined physical system in quantum mechanics, given in the following paper: Preparata, G. What is Quantum Physics? Back to the QFT of Planck, Einstein and Nernst ,lecture given at the DC Winter School on Hadron Physics, Folgaria (Italy) 6–13 February 1994, MI-TH 94/3 preprint. However, in my opinion, it is not enough to realize a many-particle theory to deal with the non-separability problem.
See for example: Caderni, N. and Martellini, M. (1984), “Third Quantization Formalism for Hamiltonian Cosmologies”, Int. J. Theor. Phys. ,23 p.223.
Giannetto, E. (1992), Teoria quanto-relativistica delle fasi macroscopiche delta materia condensata: la transizione fluido-solido ,ph. d. thesis, University of Messina, Messina
Giannetto, E. and Giaquinta, P.V. (1993), “Towards a Quantum-Relativistic Understanding of the Phases of Matter: The Fluid-Solid Transition”, Physics Essays698–109.
See note 11 and Kugo, T. and Ojima, I. (1979), Suppl. Prog. Theor. Phys. ,66 p.1.
Finkelstein, D. The Universal Quantum , in R. Kitchener (ed.), The World View... ,op. cit., pp.75–89.
Mach, E. (1883), Die Mechanik in ihrer Entwickelung historisch-kritisch dargestellt ,Brockhaus, Leipzig
Poincaré, H. (1912), “L’éspace et le temps”, Scientia ,12 pp.159-–171; Giannetto, E. (1994), Henri Poincaré and the rise of special relativity ,lecture delivered in Protvino (Russia), 27 June 1994, at the International Seminar Devoted to the 140th Birthday of Henri Poincar ,in press
Giannetto, E. (1993), Lectures on Relativity ,mimeographed paper, University of Pavia, Pavia.
Giannetto, E. (1993), Mach’s Principle and Whitehead’s Relational Formulation of Special Relativity ,conference delivered at the International Congress on ’Mach’s Principle’, Tubingen, July 1993 (in press)
Whitehead, A.N. (1919), An Enquiry on the Principles of Natural Knowledge ,Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; Whitehead, A.N. (1920), The Concept of Nature ,Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; Whitehead, A.N. (1922), The Principle of Relativity with applications to Physical Science ,Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Giannetto, E. (1992), On Relativity Theories and Leibniz ,conference delivered at the International Conference ’Albert Einstein’, Ulm, March 1992 (in press)
Giannetto, E. Heidegger and... ,op. cit.; Giannetto, E. Note sulla... ,op. cit.; Davis, M. (1977), “A Relativity Principle in Quantum Mechanics”, Int. J. Theor. Phys. ,16 p.867.
Leibniz, G.W. Mathematische Schriften ,ed. by C. G. Gerhardt, Halle 1850–63
Cassirer, E. Leibniz System in seinen wissenschaftlichen Grundlagen ,Elwert, Marburg 1902 and Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1962
Cassirer, E. Erkenntnisproblem in der Philosophie und Wissenschaft der neuren Zeit ,Berlin 1911–1920
Giannetto, E. (1988), Lectures on Leibniz ,mimeographed paper, University of Messina, Messina
Giannetto, E. (1991), Lectures on the History of Energy Concept ,mimeographed paper, University of Messina, Messina.
See references given in note 1.
See references given in note 2.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Giannetto, E. (1995). Some Remarks on Non-Separability. In: Garola, C., Rossi, A. (eds) The Foundations of Quantum Mechanics — Historical Analysis and Open Questions. Fundamental Theories of Physics, vol 71. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0029-8_26
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0029-8_26
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-4017-4
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-0029-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive