Linguistique de l’écrit

Revue internationale en libre accès

Livre | Chapitre

181034

On the transposition of the substantial into the functional

bringing Cassirer's philosophy of quantum mechanics into the twenty-first century

Angelo Cei Steven French

pp. 95-115

Résumé

Cassirer's neo-Kantian philosophy of scientific knowledge has been the subject of renewed interest recently, in particular with regard to the interpretation of General Relativity. However, Cassirer's analysis of Quantum Mechanics, found in Determinism and Indeterminism in Modern Physics, has not received the attention it deserves. Our aim in this paper is to sketch out the central themes of this work and illustrate its relevance for contemporary discussions of structuralism in the quantum context. Cassirer's general philosophy of physics is outlined before presenting the analysis of the nature and role of the causality principle. We place particular emphasis on the hierarchical view of scientific laws and principles which set causality at the apex and expressed it in abstract functional terms. Through such notions, transcendental philosophy can accommodate statistical laws and hence it can render harmless the apprent threat of quantum indeterminism. It is also shown that the uncertainty principle, quantum holism and the implications of quantum statistics are the grounds for Cassirer's conclusion that the true import of quantum mechanics was the reconceptualisation of our notion of object. Such reconceptu-alisation is structural, with point particles understood as "intersections of relations'. A brief comparison of Cassirer's neo-Kantian structuralism with some modern forms concludes our analysis.

Détails de la publication

Publié dans:

Bitbol Michel, Kerszberg Pierre, Petitot Jean (2009) Constituting objectivity: transcendental perspectives on modern physics. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 95-115

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4020-9510-8_5

Citation complète:

Cei Angelo, French Steven, 2009, On the transposition of the substantial into the functional: bringing Cassirer's philosophy of quantum mechanics into the twenty-first century. In M. Bitbol, P. Kerszberg & J. Petitot (eds.) Constituting objectivity (95-115). Dordrecht, Springer.