Quantum Irony and Classical Common Sense: Encouraging Rortian Solidarity and the Postmetaphysical Culture Through Decoherence and the Copenhagen Interpretation
Document Type Article
Abstract
This thesis explores the manner in which the vocabularies of quantum and classical physics can be redescribed in the vocabulary of Richard Rorty’s ironist and common sense dyad, and vice-versa. Of primary concern in this exploration is an examination of the ways in which such a redescription might encourage the realization of Rorty’s postmetaphysical culture and its attendant model of human solidarity. It is suggested that the concept of decoherence in the quantum mechanical tradition will prove especially useful to the Rortian who wishes to usher in the aforementioned cultural shift as decoherence both preserves the commonsensical understanding of the world and also offers a compelling description of the way in which irony must remain, as suggested by Rorty, a private pursuit.