Niels Bohr: His Heritage and Legacy, 1991 An Anti-Realist View of Quantum Mechanics Science and Philosophy Series, Vol. 6

The bulk of the present book has not been published previously though Chapters II and IV are based in part on two earlier papers of mine: "The Influence of Harald H!1lffding's Philosophy on Niels Bohr's Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics", which appeared in Danish Yearbook of Philosophy, 1979, and "The Bohr-H!1lffding Relationship Reconsidered", published in Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 1988. These two papers comple­ ment each other, and in order to give the whole issue a more extended treatment I have sought, in the present volume by drawing on relevant historical material, to substantiate the claim that H!1lffding was Bohr's mentor. Besides containing a detailed account of Bohr's philosophy, the book, at the same time, serves the purpose of making H!1lffding' s ideas and historical significance better known to a non-Danish readership. During my work on this book I have consulted the Royal Danish Library; the National Archive of Denmark and the Niels Bohr Archive, Copenhagen, in search of relevant material. I am grateful for permission to use and quote material from these sources. Likewise, I am indebted to colleagues and friends for commenting upon the manuscript: I am especially grateful to Professor Henry Folse for our many discussions during my visit to New Orleans in November-December 1988 and again here in Elsinore in July 1990.

I: Høffding as Mentor.- I.- 1. Harald Høffding, His Life and Thought.- 2. Høffding and Bohr Senior.- II.- 1. The Ekliptika Circle.- 2. Bohr and William James.- 3. Bohr and Kierkegaard.- 4. The Student Bohr on Formal Logic.- III.- 1. The Friendship.- 2. The Years Around 1927.- 3. Høffding on Complementarity.- IV.- 1. Høffding’s Theory of Knowledge.- 2. Totality as a Category.- 3. Høffding’s Philosophy of Mind and Psychology of Free Will.- 4. Høffding on Biology.- 5. Analogy and Scientific Progress.- II: Bohr and the Atomic Description of Nature.- V.- 1. The Principle of Correspondence.- 2. The Search for an Interpretation.- VI.- 1. Complementarity.- 2. Quantum Mechanics and Psychology.- 3. Bohr on Biology.- VII.- 1. The Objectivity of Knowledge.- 2. The EPR Discussion.- 3. The Conditions for Description.- VIII.- 1. Bohr and Realism.- 2. Høffding on Reality.- 3. Objective Anti-Realism.- Epilogue: The Legacy.- Notes.