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Quantum Mechanics and Objectivity pp 57–80Cite as

Complementarity and the Scientific Method: A Criticism

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Abstract

The definition of quantum mechanical variables can only be made with the aid of classical physical concepts. These are identical — except for refinements — with the concepts of everyday life. Heisenberg has written: “The concepts of classical physics will remain the basis of any exact and objective science. Because we demand of the results of science that they can be objectively proved (i. e. by measurements, registered on suitable apparatus) we are forced to express these results in the language of classical physics... Thus while the laws of classical physics... appear only as limiting cases of more general and abstract connections, the concepts associated with these laws remain an indispensable part of the language of science without which it would not be possible even to speak of scientific results” 1.

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References

  1. Heisenberg, Philosophic Problems etc., p. 45; the same idea is expressed in the same author’s Physics and Philosophy (New York: Harper, 1958), pp. 44, 144. sophical outlooks of relativists and quantum theorists, see E. Wigner, “Relativistic Invariance and Quantum Phenomena”, Rev. Mod. Phys., xxix (1959), pp. 255–268.

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  2. P. Suppes, “Probability Concepts in Quantum Mechanics”, Phil. Sci., xxviii (1961), pp. 378–389

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  3. H. Margenau, “Measurements and Quantum States”, Phil. Sci., xxx (1963), pp. 138–157.

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  4. A pure case (reiner Fall) or a pure state is one representable by a ray in Hilbert space; statistically it means that it is impossible to produce it by combining statistical ensembles with different characteristics. The term was introduced by H. Weyl and used by Heisenberg and von Neumann. Cf., H. Weyl, Theory of Groups etc., p. 75; J. von Neumann, Mathematical Foundations etc., pp. 306-307, 328-329; Heisenberg, Physical Principles etc., p. 56. The difference between a pure case and a mixture has been studied by E. P. Wigner in “The Problem of Measurement”, Am. Jour Phys., xxxi (1963), p. 6, and by

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  5. H. Margenau, Phil. Sci., xxx (1963), pp. 138–157.

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  6. E. P. Wigner, Am. Jour. Phys., xxxi (1963), p. 6.

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  7. F. London and E. Bauer, La théorie de l’observation en mécanique quantique (Paris: Hermann, 1939).

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  8. Among those physicists who reject the Projection Postulate are, Margenau, Lande, Feyerabend, Schrödinger. Cf. H. Margenau, Phil. Sci., xxx (1963), 1–16, 138-157; P. K. Feyerabend, Frontiers of Science and Philosophy; A. Landé, From Dualism to Unity in Quantum Mechanics (Cambridge: 1960)

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  9. E. Schrödinger, Naturwiss., XXIII (1935), p. 812.

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  10. London and Bauer, loc. cit. pp. 48-51; also D. Bohm, Quantum Theory (New York: Prentice-Hall, 1951); G. Ludwig, Die Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik (Berlin: 1954); P. K. Feyerabend, Observation and Interpretation (London: 1957)

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  11. A. Daneri, A. Loinger, G. M. Prosperi, Nucl. Phys., XXXIII (1962), p. 297.

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  12. Recent studies have shown that the size of the apparatus is of considerable importance to the measurement. E. Wigner and H. Salecker showed the necessity of relatively massive apparatus for the precise determination of time (Phys. Rev., cix, 1958, p. 571); for the influence of the size of the apparatus on the accuracy of measurements, cf., E. Wigner, Zeit f. Physik, cxxxi (1952) p. 101; Amer. Jour. Phys., xxxi (1963), p. 6

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  13. H. Araki and M. Yanase, “Measurement of Quantum Mechanical Operators”, Phys. Rev., cxx (1960), pp. 622–626

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  14. M. Yanase, “Optimal Measuring Apparatus”, Phys. Rev., cxxiii (1961), pp. 666–668. Wigner concludes: “This raises the suspicion that the macroscopic nature of the apparatus is necessary in principle” (Am. Jour. Phys., xxxi, 1963, p. 6).

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Authors
  1. Patrick A. Heelan S.J., M.A., Ph.D.
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© 1965 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands

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Heelan, P.A. (1965). Complementarity and the Scientific Method: A Criticism. In: Quantum Mechanics and Objectivity. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-0831-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-0831-5_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-015-0300-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-015-0831-5

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