Reality without Realism: On the Ontological and Epistemological Architecture of Quantum Mechanics

TL;DR

This paper explores the nature of quantum reality and realism, proposing two interpretations—one nonrealist and one realist—that address quantum phenomena through statistical models and deeper underlying theories.

Contribution

It introduces two novel interpretations of quantum mechanics, including a realist model based on pre-quantum classical statistical field theory that reproduces quantum predictions.

Findings

The statistical Copenhagen interpretation is nonrealist and precludes describing quantum objects.

The PCSFT-based interpretation is realist, positing a deeper underlying reality.

Experimental outcomes depend on measurement context, aligning with Bohr's interpretation.

Abstract

First, this article considers the nature of quantum reality (the reality responsible for quantum phenomena) and the concept of realism (our ability to represent this reality) in quantum theory, in conjunction with the roles of locality, causality, and probability and statistics there. Second, it offers two interpretations of quantum mechanics, developed by the authors of this article, the second of which is also a different (from quantum mechanics) theory of quantum phenomena. Both of these interpretations are statistical. The first interpretation, by A. Plotnitsky, "the statistical Copenhagen interpretation," is nonrealist, insofar as the description or even conception of the nature of quantum objects and processes is precluded. The second, by A. Khrennikov, is ultimately realist, because it assumes that the quantum-mechanical level of reality is underlain by a deeper level of reality, described, in a realist fashion, by a model, based on the pre-quantum classical statistical field theory (PCSFT), the predictions of which reproduce those of quantum mechanics. Moreover, because the continuous fields considered in this model are transformed into discrete clicks of detectors, experimental outcomes in this model depend on the context of measurement in accordance with N. Bohr's interpretation and the statistical Copenhagen interpretation, which coincides with Bohr's interpretation in this regard.