In Process and Reality and other works, Alfred North Whitehead struggled to come to terms with the impact the new science of quantum mechanics would have on metaphysics.
This ambitious book is the first extended analysis of the intricate relationships between relativity theory, quantum mechanics, and Whitehead's cosmology. Michael Epperson illuminates the intersection of science and philosophy in Whitehead's work-and details Whitehead's attempts to fashion an ontology coherent with quantum anomalies.
Including a nonspecialist introduction to quantum mechanics, Epperson adds an essential new dimension to our understanding of Whitehead-and of the constantly enriching encounter between science and philosophy in our century.
- Cover
- Quantum Mechanics and the Philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead
- Title
- Copyright
- CONTENTS
- Preface
- 1. Introduction
- I. THE PHILOSOPHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF QUANTUM MECHANICS
- 2. The Ontological Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
- Bohr’s Strategy: “Complementarity” as Evidence of an Unknowable Objective Reality
- Von Neumann’s Alternative to Bohr’s Epistemic Schism: Objective Reality via a Coherent Ontological Interpretation
- Closed Systems
- The Ontological Significance of Potentia
- 3. The Evolution of Actuality to Probability
- The Formal Description of Quantum Mechanical State Evolution
- Decoherence
- Three Benefits of This Ontological Interpretation of the Quantum Formalism
- Summary
- Interlude: The Philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead
- II. QUANTUM MECHANICS AND WHITEHEAD’S METAPHYSICAL SCHEME
- 4. The Correlation of Quantum Mechanics and Whitehead’s Philosophy
- The Phases of Quantum Mechanical Concrescence
- The Categoreal Obligations
- 5. Spatiotemporal Extension
- Coordinate Division and Genetic Division
- Coordinate Division and the Decomposition of Invariant Spacetime Intervals
- Empirical Adequacy and the Constancy of the Velocity of Light
- Coordinate Extensive Relations and Genetic Historical Relations: The Dipolarity of Relativity Theory and Quantum Mechanics
- The Issue of Absolute Spacetime and Alternative Conceptions
- The Dipolar Cooperation of Coordinate and Genetic Division
- The Dipolarity of Publicity and Privacy
- The Abstractive Geometrical Scheme Underlying Extensive Connection
- Facts and Forms: Durations and Loci
- 6. Summary and Outlook
- Appendix
- Works Cited
- Index
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