Overview
- Presents an informal dialogue between physicists and philosophers on fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics
- With the participation of leading physicists and philosophers, who contributed greatly to recent advances in the field
- The informal conversational style makes it accessible to a large audience
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: The Frontiers Collection (FRONTCOLL)
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
In this largely nontechnical book, eminent physicists and philosophers address the philosophical impact of recent advances in quantum physics. These are shown to shed new light on profound questions about realism, determinism, causality or locality. The participants contribute in the spirit of an open and honest discussion, reminiscent of the time when science and philosophy were inseparable. After the editors’ introduction, the next chapter reveals the strangeness of quantum mechanics and the subsequent discussions examine our notion of reality. The spotlight is then turned to the topic of decoherence. Bohm’s theory is critically examined in two chapters, and the relational interpretation of quantum mechanics is likewise described and discussed. The penultimate chapter presents a proposal for resolving the measurement problem, and finally thetopic of loop quantum gravity is presented by one of its founding fathers, Carlo Rovelli.
The original presentations and discussions on which this volume is based took place under the auspices of the French “Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques”. The book will appeal to everybody interested in knowing how our description of the world is impacted by the results of the most powerful and successful theory that physicists have ever built.
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Hervé Zwirn, is a physicist and epistemologist, and a senior researcher at the CNRS (the French National Centre for Scientific Research). He is a visiting researcher at the Institute of History and Philosophy of Sciences and Technology (IHPST, Paris1, CNRS & ENS), at the Research Centre for Applied Maths (CMLA, CNRS & ENS Cachan) and at the Paris Interdisciplinary Energy Research Institute (LIED, CNRS & Paris 7). His research focuses mainly on the interpretations of quantum mechanics and their philosophical consequences, on the axiomatic formalization of inference modes and on the behaviour of complex systems. He also proposed a model of the theoretical decision-making process using the mathematical framework of quantum mechanics. He is executive director of the Consortium de Valorisation Thématique de l'Alliance Athéna (UMS 3599, CNRS & Paris4), responsible for the commercial development and dissemination of the research output in social sciences of French laboratories. His main books are: Les Limites de la connaissance (Odile Jacob, 2000), Les Systèmes complexes (Odile Jacob, 2006), Philosophie de la mécanique quantique (with Jean Bricmont, Vuibert, 2009), Qu’appelle-t-on aujourd’hui les sciences de la complexité? (with Gérard Weishbuch, Vuibert, 2010).
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Quantum World
Book Subtitle: Philosophical Debates on Quantum Physics
Editors: Bernard d'Espagnat, Hervé Zwirn
Series Title: The Frontiers Collection
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55420-4
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing AG 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-55419-8Published: 16 May 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-85655-1Published: 28 July 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-55420-4Published: 08 May 2017
Series ISSN: 1612-3018
Series E-ISSN: 2197-6619
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVII, 299
Number of Illustrations: 11 b/w illustrations
Additional Information: Original French edition published by Editions Matériologiques, France, 2014
Topics: Quantum Physics, Philosophy of Science, History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics, Popular Science in Physics