Jan Faye & Henry J. Folse (Eds.): Niels Bohr and the Philosophy of Physics: Twenty-First-Century Perspectives

摘要

What precisely were Niels Bohr's views on quantum mechanics? Which philosophical ideas influenced him? Are Bohr's views defensible and what are their consequences for contemporary foundational discussions of quantum physics? For anyone interested in these kinds of questions, this book is a most valuable collection and an important addition to Bohr scholarship. And even for those to whom complementarity may sound as an obscure remnant from the history of physics to be overcome, the book has much to offer. For the main alternative interpretations of quantum mechanics (e.g. by Bohm and Everett) were, at least to some extent, developed in order to make up for the alleged shortcomings of Bohr's views. Thus, a clearer understanding of these views is also an avenue into the foundations of quantum physics in general. Of course, to get a modern view of Bohr's interpretation of quantum mechanics one might opt simply for a good review article (such as Faye 2014). But as the chapters in this book make clear, there are several possible readings of Bohr, and different authors obviously emphasize different aspects of his views. The book is the only one of its kind except for a now classic volume from 1994 by the same editors, distinguished Bohr scholars Jan Faye and Henry J. Folse. A major strength of the present collection is that it presents (or at least refers to) most, if not all, of the main contemporary perspectives on Niels Bohr's understanding of quantum mechanics.