Oldofredi, Andrea
(2023)
Orthodox or Dissident? The Evolution of Bohm’s Ontological Reflections in the 1950s.
[Preprint]
Abstract
David Bohm has often been considered unable to understand the meaning of the quantum revolution and to embrace its radical metaphysical implications. Similarly, his pilot-wave theory was negatively portrayed as an attempt to restore a classical and deterministic worldview. Against this background, the aim of this paper is twofold: in the first place, it will be argued that the accusations of dogmatism advanced by several eminent physicists contra Bohm are scientifically unfounded, showing a biased understanding of his works. Referring to this, two case studies will be discussed: the Bohm-Pauli correspondence, and the difficult relationship between Bohm and Leon Rosenfeld, a fervent supporter of Bohr’s philosophy of quantum mechanics. As the reader will see, both examples clearly indicate that the opposition against the pilot-wave approach was for the most part not based on scientific grounds. In the second place, I will reconstruct and analyze the evolution of Bohm’s philosophical reflections about ontology, scientific realism and pluralism studying private correspondences as well as his main works in the fifties culminated in the book "Causality and Chance in Modern Physics". Underlining the originality of Bohm’s thoughts, it will be concluded that his perspective can be characterized a form of local realism.
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Orthodox or Dissident? The Evolution of Bohm’s Ontological Reflections in the 1950s. (deposited 13 Jul 2023 12:49)
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