Epistemological and ontological paraconsistency in quantum mechanics

for and against Bohrian philosophy

Christian de Ronde

pp. 589-604

in: Arnold Koslow, Arthur Buchsbaum (eds), The road to universal logic II, Basel, Birkhäuser, 2015

Abstract

We interpret the philosophy of Niels Bohr as related to the so called linguistic turn and consider paraconsistency in the light of the Bohrian notion of complementarity. Following [16], Jean-Yves Béziau has discussed the seemingly contradictory perspectives found in the quantum mechanical double slit experiment in terms of paraconsistent viewpoints [7, 8]. This interpretation goes in line with the well-known Bohrian Neo–Kantian epistemological account of quantum mechanics. In this chapter, we put forward the idea that one can also consider, within quantum mechanics and departing from the philosophy of the danish physicist, a more radical paraconsistency found within one of the main formal elements of the theory, namely, quantum superpositions. We will argue that, rather than epistemological, the contradictions found within quantum superpositions could be interpreted as ontological contradictions.

Cited authors

Kant Immanuel

Bohr Niels

Béziau Jean-Yves