In this Book
- Reflection in the Waves: The Interdividual Observer in a Quantum Mechanical World
- Book
- 2019
- Published by: Michigan State University Press
- Series: Breakthroughs in Mimetic Theory
summary
The incredible success of quantum theory as a mathematical model makes it especially frustrating that we cannot agree on a plausible philosophical or metaphysical description of it. Some philosophers of science have noticed certain parallels between quantum theory and the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, and these parallels are deepened and strengthened if the “observer” of modern physics is associated with the “intellect” of scholastic ontology. In this case we are talking about a human observer. But this type of observer has a unique quality that is not considered at all by either physics or scholastic philosophy—the human observer is mimetic and therefore “interdividual.” By taking this fundamental anthropological fact into account, it turns out that the critical gaps still separating Aquinas from modern physicists can be effectively closed, reconciling the realism of Aquinas with the empirical evidence of quantum mechanics. This book explores this new bridge between the physical and the human—a bridge essentially designed by scholastic theory, clarified by mimetic theory, and built by quantum theory—and the path it opens to that metaphysical understanding for which philosophers of modern science have been striving. It is an understanding, not merely of the physical but of physics in the fuller sense of what is real and what is true. Here the reader will find a physics that describes the natural world and our place as mimetic observers within it.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Introduction
- pp. ix-xvi
- Chapter 5. The Roots of Reality
- pp. 119-146
- Chapter 6. From Reality to Truth
- pp. 147-176
- Chapter 7. The Imitation of Truth
- pp. 177-192
- Epilogue. Science and Religion
- pp. 193-204
Additional Information
ISBN
9781609175627
Related ISBN(s)
9781611862829, 9781628953299, 9781628963298
MARC Record
OCLC
1076232101
Pages
242
Launched on MUSE
2019-01-05
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2019