ON AGENTIAL REALISM AND THE ONTOLOGY OF QUANTUM MECHANICS
Igor Evgenievich Pris
Institute of Philosophy, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Minsk, Republic of Belarus
Keywords: quantum mechanics, agential realism, quantum correlation, Copenhagen interpretation, relational quantum mechanics, contextual quantum realism
Abstract
К. Barad proposes agential realism as a unified approach to natural and social phenomena. The position is inspired by quantum mechanics and, in particular, the phenomenon of quantum entanglement. Barad also sees similarities between her approach, N. Bohr’s view and C. Rovelli’s relational quantum mechanics. In our opinion, agential realism is a kind of ontological correlationism, and not realism. The analogy with the approaches of Bohr and Rovelli is only partial. Agential realism is a wrong interpretation of quantum mechanics. It is also unsuitable for social theorizing, for which considering the context sensitivity of ontology is fundamental. As an alternative, we propose contextual quantum realism (CQR), which rejects substance dualisms (as Barad does) but at the same time accepts the categorical dualism of the real and the ideal. Our approach also allows for a better understanding of Bohr’s position and correcting Rovelli’s relational quantum mechanics.
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