Shaun Kenney | Politics and Religion in Virginia's Public Square

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Wednesday, November 06, 2002 I am currently writing a paper on the rehabilitation of Kantian epistemology for quantum physics and relativity theory. This is a small accumulation of my findings online, and there doesn't appear to be much beyond a dismissal of Kant because space and time - formally immutable superstructures within which everything exists - have been shown by quantum physics and relativity theory to be affected by movement and gravity, thereby making them both objects. Of course, there are a few notable exceptions such as this website entitled the Friesian School: Kant's idea that space and time do not exist among things-in-themselves has been curiously affirmed by Relativity and quantum mechanics. In Relativity, time simply ceases to pass at the velocity of light: for photons that have travelled to us as part of the Cosmic Background Radiation, time has stood still for most of the history of the universe. On the other hand, quantum mechanics now posits "non-locality," i.e. physical distances, and so the limitation of the velocity of light in Relativity, don't seem to exist. This means that although time may apply to the wave function, space may not. The full empirical reality of space is only found among discrete particles and objects. This curious result is the consequence of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) Paradox, which was intended by Einstein as a reductio ad absurdum of quantum mechanics. If, for instance, a positron and an election are both created from an energetic photon, the conservation of angular momentum requires that one be spinning one way, and the other the other. But the complementary spins are equally probably for each particle. Thus, in quantum mechanical terms, the wave functions of each particle separate without a discrete state being determined. The particles might then separate to even cosmological distances, but as soon as the spin of one particle is observed, the other particle must have the opposite spin, which means that the wave function has collapsed across those cosmological distances and caused the other particle to assume a predictable spin. If this occurs instantaneously, it would violate the limitation of the velocity of light in Special Relativity. This has now been shown to actually occur on the basis of Bell's Theorem (from John Bell, 1928-1990), meaning that Quantum Mechanics does violate Special Relativity by allowing instantaneous interactions across even cosmological distances. However, once observed, processes must still obey Special Relativity and the limitations of spatial distance, creating the kind of duality described by Kant. Bell himself found this result disturbing, but to Kant it would fit in with his own theory that space is only imposed by the representation of phenomenal objects. Einstein always objected to quantum mechanics because his metaphysical realism recoiled from the idea that observation would create a different kind of reality than what existed independently. At first Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle could be interpreted as meaning that the act of observation would physically disturb a system in an ordinary and realistic way, but then it soon became evident that strange things were allowed to happen in the wave function that not only could not be observed but could not even be conceived in ordinary and realistic ways. Reality existed in a different way while under observation than it did in itself. In short, Einstein and Kant were remarkably similar in their 'philosophies of science' so to speak. This having been said, Bell Theorem (and Schrodinger's Cat before it) still pose a distinct problem by violating principles of relativity theory. More modern experiments showing some a breakdown of relativity on small-scale experimental levels indicate that Einstein qua Kant may be right to an extent, but not completely. Does this mean that we will have to wait for superstring theory before we can have a comprehensive epistemology? Or can critical philosophy point the way towards a synthesis between relativity and quantum physics? More to come. . . posted by Shaun Kenney \| 11/06/2002 03:45:00 PM \| 0 comments 0 Comments: Post a Comment Home
	RedStormPAC $ About ShaunKenney.com is one of Virginia's oldest political blogs, focusing on the role of religion and politics in public life. Shaun Kenney, 30, lives in Fluvanna County, Virginia. Contact E-mail RSS/Atom Feed Links Bacon's Rebellion Deo Vindice First Things Google News Hiron's Blog Instapundit J's Notes Jaded JD Jefferson Mammoth Republitarian Save the GOP VCAP Virginia Centrist Virginia Club for Growth Virginia Progressive Virginia Virtucon Vivian J. Paige Waldo Jaquith The Jeffersoniad China Freedom Blog Alliance China e-Lobby Democratic China One Free Korea ShaunKenney.com Previous Posts The recent invitation by certain activist groups... Tom Byrnes wrote an excellent op-ed in the Free La... For those of us who are in the know, Susan Green... Here we go again. Thanks to the sniper attacks, t... Marvin Bolinger announced that he would resign a... In a matter of less than 100 days, the new Frede... The University of Virginia is sponsoring a confere... The British tabloid The Sun reporting that Saddam ... Made the switch again! It seems as if there is a ... Made the switch to frames. Peasants rejoice. W... Search VA Blogs BlogNetNews.com	JEFFERSONIAD POLL: Whom do you support for Virginia Attorney General? 1) John Brownlee 2) Ken Cuccinelli View Results Recent Music Archives March 2002 April 2002 May 2002 June 2002 July 2002 August 2002 September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 April 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008