Re: [OPE-L] Overdetermination & Science

From: antonio callari (antonio.callari@FANDM.EDU)
Date: Tue Jan 03 2006 - 18:51:15 EST


Thank you, Ian (and Paul too!). I'll try to sift through the
substantive points you make about quantum mechanics (on which it may
indeed turn out that i am wrong). (The specter of Sokal doesn't
bother me in this discussion; I am not trying to pull off anything
other than to use what I understand--and I think I acknowledged--if
not, I should have--my limited knowledge on these matters).
Antonio

>Hi Antonio
>
>I think it weakens your agument because it seems irrelevant, like
>pulling a rabbit from a hat. It's well documented by Sokal etc. how
>postmodernist theorists have used various popularizations of quantum
>mechanics to add authority to irrealist arguments. I think you
>arguments stand on their own without the additional appeal to quantum
>mechanics.
>
>I read the New York Times article you mentioned. I do not understand
>how it could be read as evidence of the mind-dependence of reality.
>Rather, it seems to be an ongoing debate within physics of the meaning
>and adequacy of quantum mechanics. The Copenhagen interpretation,
>although influential, is not universally held. I think we should let
>the physicists work through their conceputal difficulties. Jerry's
>agnosticism is a healthy attitude.
>
>-Ian.


--
Antonio Callari
Sigmund M. and Mary B. Hyman Professor of Economics
F&M Local Economy Center
P.O. Box 3003
713 College Avenue
Lancaster PA 17604-3003
e-mail: acallari@fandm.edu
phone: (717) 291-3947
FAX:  (717) 291-4369


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