Niels Bohr's Complementarity

Through detailed textual and conceptual analysis, and with special attention to the potentially conflicting elements of Bohr's thought, this volume's fresh approach analyzes the relations between realism and antirealism through the prism of complementarity.

This book explores the modern physicist Niels Bohr's philosophical thought, specifically his pivotal idea of complementarity, with a focus on the relation between the roles of what he metaphorically calls spectators and actors. It seeks to spell out the structural and historical complexity of the idea of complementarity in terms of different modes of the 'spectator-actor' relation, showing, in particular, that the reorganization of Bohr's thought starting from his 1935 debate with Einstein and his collaborators is characterized by an extension of the dynamic conception of complementarity from non-physical contexts to the very field of quantum theory. Further, linked with this analysis, the book situates Bohr's complementarity in contemporary philosophical context by examining its intersections with post-Heideggerian hermeneutics as well as Derridean deconstruction. Specifically, it points to both the close affinities and the differences between Bohr's idea of the 'actor-spectator' relation and the hermeneutic notion of the relation between belonging and distanciation.

A new, original interpretation of Bohr's complementarity through detailed textual and conceptual analysis Develops a fully new perspective on the post-EPR development of Bohr's thought, based upon the distinction and interrelation between different conceptions of complementarity Goes far beyond the standard frames of the philosophy of science, the book provides a unique analysis of the conceptual linkage of complementarity with hermeneutic philosophy and Derridean deconstruction.

Klappentext

This book explores the modern physicist Niels Bohr s philosophical thought, specifically his pivotal idea of complementarity, with a focus on the relation between the roles of what he metaphorically calls spectators and actors. It seeks to spell out the structural and historical complexity of the idea of complementarity in terms of different modes of the spectator-actor relation, showing, in particular, that the reorganization of Bohr s thought starting from his 1935 debate with Einstein and his collaborators is characterized by an extension of the dynamic conception of complementarity from non-physical contexts to the very field of quantum theory. Further, linked with this analysis, the book situates Bohr s complementarity in contemporary philosophical context by examining its intersections with post-Heideggerian hermeneutics as well as Derridean deconstruction. Specifically, it points to both the close affinities and the differences between Bohr s idea of the actor-spectator relation and the hermeneutic notion of the relation between belonging and distanciation.

Inhalt

Bohr and the Development of Quantum Theory: A Brief Review.- An Overview of Bohr's Complementarity.- Prior Interpretations of Complementarity .- A Philosophical-Historical Analysis of Complementarity.- Intersections with Hermeneutic Philosophy.- Intersections with Derridean Deconstruction.- Concluding Remarks .- References.