Tightrope-walking rationality in action: Feyerabendian insights for the foundations of quantum mechanics

TL;DR

This paper explores Feyerabend's philosophical ideas on realism, objectivity, and pluralism, and discusses how these insights can inform contemporary debates on the foundations of quantum mechanics.

Contribution

It provides a novel analysis of Feyerabend's work, extending his philosophical views to offer new perspectives for quantum foundations research.

Findings

Feyerabend's views on realism and objectivity are relevant to quantum mechanics debates.

Pluralism in Feyerabend's philosophy supports multiple interpretations of quantum phenomena.

His ideas suggest a flexible approach to the conceptual foundations of quantum physics.

Abstract

We scan Paul K. Feyerabend's work in philosophy of physics and of science more generally for insights that could be useful for the contemporary debate on the foundations of quantum mechanics. We take as our starting point what Feyerabend has actually written about quantum mechanics, but we extend our analysis to his general views on realism, objectivity, pluralism, and the relation between physics and philosophy, finding that these more general views could in fact offer many interesting insights for physicists and philosophers working on quantum foundations.