Epistemology and Probability

Quantum mechanics, discovered by Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger in 1925-1926, is famous for its radical implications for our conception of physics and for our view of human knowledge in general. While these implications have been seen as scientifically productive and intellectually liberating to some, Niels Bohr and Heisenberg, among them, they have been troublesome to many others, including Schrödinger and, most famously, Albert Einstein. The situation led to the intense debate that started in the wake of its discovery and has continued into our own time, with no end appearing to be in sight. The book offers an exploration of the relationships between epistemology and probability in the work of Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, and Erwin Schrödinger; in quantum mechanics; and in modern physics as a whole. It also considers the implications of these relationships and of quantum theory itself for our understanding of the nature of thinking and knowledge in general. These implications are radical and controversial. While they have been seen as scientifically productive and intellectually liberating to some, Bohr and Heisenberg among them, they have been troublesome to many others, beginning with Schrödinger and, most famously, Einstein, who refused to believe that God would resort to playing dice, as quantum theory appeared to demand. The situation led to an intense debate, in particular the great confrontation between Einstein and Bohr, which began around the time of the discovery of quantum mechanics by Heisenberg and Schrödinger in 1920s and has overshadowed the history of the debate concerning quantum mechanics ever since. The controversy itself surrounding quantum theory and the intensity of the debate concerning it have remained undiminished. No end appears to be in sight.