Schrödinger’s philosophy of quantum mechanics

Schrödinger's philosophy of quantum mechanics gives a comprehensive account of Erwin Schrödinger's successive interpretations of quantum mechanics, insisting on their final synthesis in the 1950's. The book shows that the widespread view according to which Schrödinger was "conservative" in his approach of quantum mechanics is ill-founded. A rational reconstruction of Schrödinger's innovative interpretation of the quantum theory in the 1950's, including his insistance on field quantization, is undertaken. His apparently conflicting attitudes towards realism (which combine Mach's positivism and realism of theoretical entities) are reconciled in the framework of S. Blackburn's "quasi-realism". Schrödinger's rejection of corpuscles, and his adoption of wave-like entities instead, is shown to be a by-product of his phenomenalist conceptions of material bodies and of his quasi-realist attitude towards theoretical entities. Then, his views on the measurement problem are compared with current no-collapse interpretations (especially Everett's and Van Fraassen's). Finally, Schrödinger's and Bohr's positions are systematically contrasted. The difference between Bohr's combination of holistic and dualistic analysis of the measurement process (contextual phenomena combined with classical-quantum functional cut), and Schrödinger's parallelist conception (sequence of experimental events - unitary evolution of the wave function), is emphasized. – 1- The controversy between Schrödinger and the Göttingen-Copenhagen physicists in the 1950's : 1-1 Schrödinger's successive interpretations of quantum mechanics according to the current views 1; 1-2 Born's and Heisenberg's criticism of Schrödinger's late interpretation of quantum mechanics; 1-3 Historical flaws in the Born-Heisenberg critique of Schrödinger's late interpretation of quantum mechanics; 1-4 Misunderstandings about the concept of particle; 1-5 Misunderstandings about the concept of "reality"; 1-6 Misunderstandings about "causality"; 1-7 Schrödinger's over-revolutionary attitude; 1-8 Modernity and post-modernity; 1-9 The continuity of Schrödinger's attitude towards quantum mechanic(an outline). – 2- Schrödinger's theoretical project : 2-1 Reality and virtuality (1924); 2-2 Holism and wave-packets (1925); 2-3 Holism and the three dimensions of space (1926); 2-4 Wave interpretation versus electrodynamic interpretation: a prehistory of the empirical correspondence rules; 2-5 The lack of pictures; 2-6 The lack of continuity. – 3- The analytical stance : 3-1 The ontological significance of the uncertainty relations; 3-2 The state vector as a catalog of informations. – 4- Towards a new ontology : 4-1 The fading of the concept of particle; 4-2 An ontology of state vectors; 4-3 The "blind spot" of quantum mechanics; 4-4 Neo-Schrödingerian views on the measurement problem. I-Everett's interpretation; 4-5 Neo-Schrödingerian views on the measurement problem. II-Modal and critical interpretations. – 5- The "thing" of everyday life : 5-1 The three features of objects; 5-2 The aspects and the "thing"; 5-3 The "elements" of the construction (Mach, Russell, Schrödinger, Husserl; 5-4 Are the "basic data" really basic?; 5-5 The construction of objects and the unconscious; 5-6 The "thing" and the future; 5-7 Possibilities and infinities; 5-8 The "thing" as theory, and the theory as expectation; 5-9 Realism and morals ; 5-10 Form and individuality; 5-11 Wholeness and individuality. – 6- Complementarity, representation and facts : 6-1 Schrödinger's criticism of Bohr's complementarity; 6-2 Bohr's complementarities; 6-3 Schrödinger's "complementarities"; 6-4 Two parallelisms; 6-5 Being-in-a-body and being-in-the-world; 6-6 The body, the world, and dualism; 6-7 The body, the world, and monism; 6-8 The body, the world, and anomalous parallelism. M.-M. V.