Abstract
Physics, like all science, is grown out of a desire to understand the world. However, modern physics with its mathematical form has become increasingly removed from the world of everyday experience and visual imagination. In quantum mechanics it is impossible to visualize the reality represented by the theory. All we have is a consistent mathematical structure. Although the theory works perfectly well instrumentally, the question remains, how can the mathematics of the theory impart understanding? If we look at mathematics as a language, we are faced with the semantic problem: how does the language of mathematics acquire meaning? In an attempt to answer this question, I study Derrida’s early critique of Husserl’s intuitionism and Wittgenstein's picture theory of language. I also introduce Paul A. M. Dirac as having similar notions of quantum mechanics as expressed in this article.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
K. Camilleri, Constructing the myth of the copenhagen interpretation. Perspect. Sci. 17(1), 26–57 (2009)
J. Derrida, Edmund Husserl’s Origin of Geometry. An Introduction. (Including Husserl, E: Origin of Geometry) (University of Nebraska Press, 1989). French original: Edmund Husserl’s L’origine de la géométrie, traduction et introduction par Jacques Derrida. Epiméthée, Essais Philosophiques, Collection fondée par Jean Hyppolite (Presses Universitaires de France, 1962). German original of Husserl’s Origin of Geometry: Husserl, E.: Der Ursprung der Geometrie als intentional-historisches Problem (Ursprung). Revue internationale de philosophie 1, 2, 1939. Extended version: Die Frage nach dem Ursprung der Geometrie als intentional-historisches Problem. I: Die Krisis der europäischen Wissenschaften und die transzendentale Phänomenologie. Husserliana VI. Den Haag, 1962
J. Derrida, Edmund Husserl’s Origin of Geometry An introduction (University of Nebraska Press, London, 1962)
J. Derrida, Voice and Phenomena, (Nortwestern University Press, Evanston, 1973). French original: La voix et la phénomène (Presses Universitaires de France, 1967)
P.A.M. Dirac, The Principles of Quantum Mechanics, 1st edn. (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1930)
P.A.M. Dirac, The Principles of Quantum Mechanics, 2nd edn. (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1935)
A. Einstein, I James Clerk Maxwell: A Commemorative Volume 1831–1931 (Cambridge University press, Cambridge, 1973)
G. Farmelo, The Strangest Man (Faber & Faber, London, 2009)
H. Hertz, The Principles of Mechanics Presented in a New Form (Dover, New York, 2003). German original: Die Prinzipien der Mechanik in neuem Zusammenhange dargestellt. Drei Beiträge 1891–1894. Verlag Harry Deutsch
E. Husserl, Logical Investigations I-II (Routledge, London, 2001). German original: Logische Untersuchungen I-II, 1900–1901
E. Husserl, The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology (Northwestern University Press, Evanston, 1970). German original: Die Krisis der europäischen Wissenschaften und die tranzendentale Phänomenologie, Haag: Nijhoff 1954
M. Jammer, The Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics (Wiley, New York, 1974)
A. Janik, S. Toulmin, Wittgenstein’s Vienna (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1973)
J. Pykacz, A Brief Survey of Main Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics. Chapter 2 in: Quantum Physics, Fuzzy Sets and Logic (Springer, 2015)
A. Salam, E.P. Wigner (ed.), Aspects of Quantum Theory (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1972)
J. von Neumann, The Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1955). German original: Mathematische Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik (Dover, New York, 1943)
L. Wittgenstein, Notebooks 1914–1916. (English and German edition) (Blackwell, Oxford, 1961)
L. Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. First German edition: Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung. Wilhelm Ostwald (red..), Annalen der Naturphilosophie, 14 (1921). First English translation (an edition with both the Germaan and the translated text) by C.K. Ogden og F.P. Ramsey (Kegan, Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co, London, 1922).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Grelland, H.H. (2018). Quantum Mechanics as a Semantic Problem. In: Wuppuluri, S., Doria, F. (eds) The Map and the Territory. The Frontiers Collection. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72478-2_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72478-2_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-72477-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-72478-2
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)