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Einstein and Bohr's Rhetoric of Complementarity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Mara Beller
Mara Beller
Affiliation:
Program in History and Philosophy of Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide a critical perspective for Einstein's opposition to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics, by analyzing the ingenious rhetoric of Bohr's principle of complementarity. I argue that what Bohr presents as arguments of “inevitability” are in fact merely arguments for the consistency of the quantum-mechanical scheme. Einstein's resistance to being persuaded by this potent technique of argumentation, and his rejection of Bohr's interpretation of quantum physics, appear consequently as an eminently reasonable position and not as a conservative stand, as it is often presented by the adherents of the Copenhagen orthodoxy.

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Type
The Philosophical Context
Information
Science in Context , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , Spring 1993, pp. 241 - 255
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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