Reconsidering Niels Bohr's Interpretation of Quantum Physics

Project Information

BOHRREC

Grant agreement ID: 624339

Project closed

Start date 1 May 2014

End date 30 April 2016

Funded under

• Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

Total cost € 269 743,80

EU contribution € 269 743,80

Coordinated by

Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7
France

Objective

This project aims at a deeper understanding of Niels Bohr’s philosophical thought on quantum mechanics. Bohr was one of the creators of what is known as the old quantum theory, developed in the years 1913–1925, and one of the most influential interpreters of the new quantum theory, which was developed in 1925–1927 and is the version accepted by physicists today.
Though influential, Bohr’s thoughts on quantum mechanics are notoriously difficult to understand. The current project will shed light on Bohr’s thought by viewing it within a framework informed by the philosophy of symbolic forms of the neo-Kantian philosopher Ernst Cassirer, and the revision of Kantianism due to Michael Friedman, which is also inspired by Cassirer, although alternative views also shall be considered. The chief difference between this revised Kantianism and the philosophy of Kant is that, whereas for Kant the conditions for the possibility of experience, through which we make sense of talk of objects of experience are fixed and immutable, in the revised version they develop along with the development of science.
The core of the project will involve an examination of the status of the correspondence principle, a crucial ingredient in the transformation of the old quantum theory to the new quantum theory. The correspondence principle requires agreement, in some respect, between classical mechanics and quantum mechanics in the limit of large quantum numbers. The result of the project will not only be a deeper understanding of Bohr’s thought and the development of quantum mechanics; there will be broader implications for understanding the development of science.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

• natural sciences › physical sciences › quantum physics
• natural sciences › physical sciences › classical mechanics
• humanities › philosophy, ethics and religion › philosophy

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Programme(s)

• FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

Topic(s)

• FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF - Marie-Curie Action: "Intra-European fellowships for career development"

Call for proposal

FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)

Coordinator

Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7

• EU contribution: € 269 743,80
• Address: Rue Thomas Mann ; F-75205 / 13 Paris ; France
• Activity type: Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
• Total cost: No data