Abstract
According to Zeilinger’s information interpretation of quantum mechanics ‘the distinction between reality and our knowledge of reality, between reality and information, cannot be made. They are in a deep sense indistinguishable’. This is what we call Zeilinger’s thesis. This thesis has been criticized as a lapse into ‘informational immaterialism’ and amounting to nothing more than a tautology. However, we will argue that this criticism is based on a pre-Kantian view of reality, namely metaphysical realism which could be questioned on the basis of Putnam’s arguments. Furthermore, it will be argued that to understand Zeilinger’s thesis one should abandon the pre-Kantian perspective of metaphysical realism and adopt a post-Kantian perspective on the relationship between the mind and the world.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
It is interesting to note that Zeilinger’s approach bears striking similarity to that of early Wittgenstein in Tractatus, especially see propositions 1 and 2 in Wittgenstein (2001).
It is possible to distinguish collapse theories from no-collapse theories empirically but it is not feasible yet due to a number of difficulties having to do with interactions between the system and environment; see Albert (1994, ch. 5). But then it would not be an interpretation of quantum mechanics rather it would be a new theory.
See e.g. Bohr (1950).
References
Albert, D. Z. (1994). Quantum mechanics and experience. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Bell, J. S. (1990). Against ‘measurement’. Physics World, 3(8), 33–40. Reprinted In Speakable and unspeakable in quantum mechanics, 213–231.
Bilban, T. (2014). Realism and antirealism in informational foundations of quantum theory. Quanta, 3(1), 32–42.
Bitbol, M. (2010). Reflective metaphysics: Understanding quantum mechanics from a Kantian standpoint. Philosophica, 83, 53–83.
Bitbol, M., Kerszberg, P., & Petitot, J. (Eds.). (2009). Constituting objectivity: Transcendental perspectives on modern physics (Vol. 74). Berlin: Springer.
Bitbol, M., & Osnaghi, S. (2016). Bohr’s complementarity and Kant’s epistemology. In O. Darrigol, B. Duplantier, J. M. Raimond, & V. Rivasseau (Eds.), Niels Bohr, 1913–2013: Poincaré Seminar 2013 (Vol. 68). Cham: Birkhäuser.
Boge, F. J. (2018). Quantum mechanics between ontology and epistemology. Berlin: Springer.
Bohr, N. (1937). Causality and complementarity. Philosophy of Science, 4(3), 289–298.
Bohr, N. (1950). On the notions of causality and complementarity. Science, 111(2873), 51–54.
Cuffaro, M. (2010). The Kantian framework of complementarity. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 41(4), 309–317.
Dalla Chiara, M. L., Giuntini, R., Leporini, R., & Sergioli, G. (2018). Quantum computation and logic: How quantum computers have inspired logical investigations (Vol. 48). Berlin: Springer.
Daumer, M., Dürr, D., Goldstein, S., Maudlin, T., Tumulka, R., & Zanghì, N. (2006). The message of the quantum? In AIP conference proceedings (Vol. 844, No. 1, pp. 129–132).
d’Espagnat, B. (2003). Veiled reality: An analysis of present-day quantum mechanical concepts. Boulde: Westview Press.
Einstein, A. (1936). Physics and reality. Journal of the Franklin Institute, 221(3), 349–382.
Friederich, S. (2015). Interpreting quantum theory: A therapeutic approach. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Fuchs, C. A. (2001) Notes on a Paulian idea: Foundational, historical, anecdotal and forward looking thoughts on the quantum (selected correspondence) (Växjö: Växjö University Press, 2003); arXiv: quant-ph/0105039.
Fuchs, C. A. (2002). Quantum mechanics as quantum information (and only a little more). arXiv: quant-ph/0205039.
Fuchs, C. A. (2010). QBism, the perimeter of quantum Bayesianism. arXiv: 1003.5209.
Fuchs, C. A., Mermin, N. D., & Schack, R. (2014). An introduction to QBism with an application to the locality of quantum mechanics. American Journal of Physics, 82(8), 749–754.
Healey, R. (2012). Quantum theory: A pragmatist approach. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 63(4), 729–771.
Healey, R. (2017). The quantum revolution in philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Held, C. (2018). The Kochen–Specker theorem. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2018 edition). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2018/entries/kochen-specker/.
Kant, I. (1996). Critique of pure reason. London: Hackett.
Kochen, S., & Specker, E. P. (1967). The problem of hidden variables in quantum mechanics. Journal of Mathematics and Mechanics, 17, 59–87.
Kofler, J., & Zeilinger, A. (2006). The information interpretation of quantum mechanics and the Schrödinger Cat Paradox. Sciences et Avenir Hors-Série, 148, 58.
Lewis, P. J. (2016). Quantum ontology: A guide to the metaphysics of quantum mechanics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Petersen, A. (1963). The philosophy of Niels Bohr. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 19(7), 8–14.
Putnam, H. (1981). Reason, truth and history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Putnam, H. (1992). Realism with a human face. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Putnam, H. (1995). Pragmatism: An open question. Oxford: Blackwell.
Russell, B. (1945). A history of western philosophy. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Saatsi, J. (2019). Scientific realism meets metaphysics of quantum mechanics. In A. Cordero (Ed.), Philosophers look at quantum mechanics (pp. 141–162). Cham: Springer.
Shafiee, A., Safinejad, F., & Naqsh, F. (2006). Information and the Brukner–Zeilinger interpretation of quantum mechanics: A critical investigation. Foundations of Physics Letters, 19(1), 1–20.
Timpson, C. G. (2010). Information, immaterialism, instrumentalism: Old and new in quantum information. In A. Bokulich & G. Jaeger (Eds.), Philosophy of quantum information and entanglement (pp. 208–227). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Timpson, C. G. (2013). Quantum information theory and the foundations of quantum mechanics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
van Fraassen, B. C. (1991). Quantum mechanics: An empiricist view. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
van Fraassen, B. C. (2009). Can empiricism leave its realism bedind? Toward a dialogue with transcendentalists. In M. Bitbol, P. Kerszberg, & J. Petitot (Eds.), Constituting objectivity: Transcendental perspectives on modern physics (Vol. 74). Berlin: Springer.
Wittgenstein, L. (2001). Tractatus logico-philosophicus. London: Routledge.
Zeilinger, A. (1999). A foundational principle for quantum mechanics. Foundations of Physics, 29(4), 631–643.
Zeilinger, A. (2005). The message of the quantum. Nature, 438(7069), 743.
Zeilinger, A. (2010). Dance of the photons: From Einstein to quantum teleportation. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Acknowledgements
We thank an anonymous referee for constructive comments.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Barzegar, A., Taqavi, M. & Shafiee, A. Zeilinger on Information and Reality. Found Sci 26, 1007–1019 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-020-09696-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-020-09696-8