Quantum Theory and the Flight from Realism

Norris, Christopher

doi:10.4324/9780203464311

Cited by 25 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This idea-that consciousness stands outside objective reality, yet knows, and, according to some interpretations, is active in creation of reality, is a minority view, yet well-known to science (e.g., Barrow, 1998;Kafatos & Nadeau, 1990;Norris, 2000;Omnes, 1999;Papa-Grimalidi, 1998;Rosenblum & Kuttner, 2006;Stapp, 1993Stapp, , 2011 and eastern philosophy (for review, see Albahari, 2006;Loy, 1988;Siderits, 2003). In fact, some physical models of reality require a causally active consciousness to explain the world as we experience it-e.g., the collapse of the wave function as a result of conscious measurement, which selects a reality from a set of probabilities and replaces it with a specific concrete instantiation as a result of that observation (e.g., Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics; for discussions, see Bohr, 1958;Heisenberg, 1958Heisenberg, /1999Reichenbach, 1951;Rosenblum & Kuttner, 2006;Stapp, 2011; but see Bunge, 2010, for a critical view of the Copenhagen interpretation).…”

Section: When Am I?: the Ontological Self And Timementioning

confidence: 99%

The Self and its Brain

Klein¹

2012

Social Cognition

161

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: When Am I?: the Ontological Self And Timementioning

confidence: 99%

The Self and its Brain

Klein¹

2012

Social Cognition

161

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Critical realism has been critiqued and developed further most notably by Margaret Archer (1995), Andrew Collier (1994), and Andrew Sayer (1992, 2007). The philosophy has succeeded postmodernism as a significant influence on fields as varied as basic science (Norris, 2000), sociology, philosophy, literary studies, politics, media studies, psychology and social science (López & Potter, 2001), economics (Fleetwood, 1999), and Marxian studies (Norris, 2000). Critical realism is also the philosophical basis of various approaches to critical semiotic analysis (Chouliaraki & Fairclough, 1999; Fairclough, 1995, 2001) and cultural political economy (Fairclough, Jessop, & Sayer, 2004; Jessop, 2004; Jessop, Fairclough, & Wodak, 2008).…”

Section: Critical Realismmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Critical Realist Orientation to Learner Needs

Ayers

2010

Adult Education Quarterly

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The objective of this essay is to propose critical realism as a philosophical middle way between two sets of ontological, epistemological, and methodological assumptions regarding learner needs. Key concepts of critical realism, a tradition in the philosophy of science, are introduced and applied toward an analysis of learner needs, resulting in novel ontological and epistemological assertions about learner needs. Retroduction is offered as a methodology for interrogating needs as a function of broad and complex social processes.

show abstract

“…On the one hand they are projecting elements of themselves (‘good’ and ‘bad’) on to the cosmos but with these same cosmic elements in turn being read back on to, or introjected by, the self. Meanwhile all this speculation has a decreasing reference to actual observation of the universe (Norris, 2000; Frankel, 2003).…”

Section: Dichotomous Cosmologies From Newton To Hawkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alienation, the Cosmos and the Self

Dickens¹

2009

The Sociological Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper is concerned with the alienation between the self and the cosmos. On the one hand, the binaries involved in this process (including the division between society and nature and between mental and manual labour) have been widely described and commented on. Social scientists and activists alike have shown that dichotomies of this kind are used by social elites to legitimate control over nature and over 'inferior' human beings. These insights are all vital but this paper attempts to combine them with elements of psychoanalysis. Binary ways of thought also appeal to elements (especially infantile elements) of the human psyche that divide parts of society and nature into 'good' and 'bad'. These binaries are the product of psychic defence mechanisms operating under uncertain, challenging or difficult-to-understand circumstances. They result in a narcissistic rather than an anaclytic relation to the cosmos, one in which a divided cosmos is mirroring a divided self rather than (as in archaic societies) a self which develops in close relation to 'others' on which it depends. The paper concludes by arguing that a highly general, 'universal', knowledge of the cosmos and external nature is unstable and eminently challengeable. Why a dualistic cosmos?A particular form of cosmology has remained dominant, at least since the Ancient Greek era. Typically, the most distant parts are deemed to be Heavenly, pure, subject to regular movement and most easily understandable via mathematics (often of an advanced nature) and abstract reasoning. Those parts nearer Earth and on Earth itself, on the other hand, are seen as having precisely opposite qualities. They are impure, profane, Godless and chaotic. Why is this dualistic picture so dominant? This paper attempts to answer this question. First it addresses some of the more objective features of society given prominence by conventional sociology. Secondly, psychoanalysis is explored, the suggestion being that a dualistic cosmos can in part be understood as a product of a dichotomized human psyche.

show abstract

Quantum Theory and the Flight from Realism

Cited by 25 publications

References 0 publications

The Self and its Brain

The Self and its Brain

A Critical Realist Orientation to Learner Needs

Alienation, the Cosmos and the Self

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About