Heisenberg's Concept of Matter as Potency

Diogenes 24 (96):25-37 (1976)
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Abstract

Does the success of quantum mechanics require that we abandon the notion of complete scientific explanation? Or does it represent a breakthrough in the explanatory scope of physical theories? Ever since Werner Heisenberg formulated the theory of matrix mechanics in 1925, this issue has been the topic of a continuing philosophical debate. In this essay I propose to explain Heisenberg's rejection of the mechanistic philosophy associated with classical physics and the significance of his return to Aristotle's concept of matter as potency.

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10.1177/039219217602409602

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Citations of this work

Heisenberg and the Problem of Causality.Manuel Cruz Ortiz de Landázuri - forthcoming - Hopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science.

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