An investigative study of the philosophical implications of wave-particle duality

• Main Author: Gates, David Rosello
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2002
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/1835
• Institution: De La Salle University

The present study examined the Wave-particle duality and its philosophical implications. It traced the discovery of both wave-like and particle-like characteristics of subatomic elements and the paradigm shift it triggered away from the prevailing Newtonian Physics and Laplace's Philosophy. The scientific community resorted to various explanations in order to account for the Wave-particle duality, some of which seemed fictional from the vantage point of the old paradigm. Among these explanations is the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics which points out that the observer is never detached from that which is being observed, a position contrary to classical physics which assumes objectivity in any scientific endeavor. Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle further argued that science has its limitations. According to this Principle, in the quantum world, both the position and momentum of a subatomic particle cannot simultaneously be known with certainty. This argument ushered a new way of perceiving reality. The present study is divided into two parts: the epistemological and metaphysical. In the first part, the contradictions which came about following the discovery of Wave-particle duality was tackled in relation to classical paradigm. In the second part, the consequent expansion of the worldview which fashioned an openness to new possibilities was discussed. In the conclusion, the Theory of Everything was mentioned as current day efforts to account for an encompassing interpretation of the cosmos. Among the present writer's recommendations is the further development of the Theory of Everything and the Uncertainty Principle.