Quantum mysticism and the challenges imposed on epistemology and scientific knowledge

• Autor(a) principal: Simões, Eduardo
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Argumentos : Revista de Filosofia (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://periodicos.ufc.br/argumentos/article/view/81466
• topic: Teoria quântica. Misticismo quântico. Epistemologia. Conhecimento científico.; Quantum theory. Quantum mysticism. Epistemology. Scientific knowledge.

The aim of this article is to present the theme of quantum mysticism, which until now has been neglected by most epistemologists, as a subject that is both exciting and challenging. When mystical positions are born out of legitimate scientific interpretations, therefore, reconciling with science, like many aspects of the anti-realism of many orthodox interpretations of quantum mechanics, these are only epistemic problems for which reflections and elucidations are required, but that do not compromise the theory’s predictive and application power. On the other hand, when such positions become confrontational with science, there is a challenge imposed on us for which solutions are required. It is precisely this moment that we are experiencing within physical science: a tangle of mystical theories that do not even touch the aims and identity of quantum theory are presented as if they were truths of faith. It is up to the quantum theory itself, however, to reflect on its percentage of commitment to this state of affairs, given its historical conformity with attitudes of indeterminacy, uncertainty, discontinuity and lack of causal link.