Greetings,
Magnus: Einstein was always convinced of an objective world. He thought that Bohr regarded
observation as actually changing the reality of that objective world, so his jibe about the moon was
intended to refute Bohr by reducing his position to absurdity. After all it is clear that, in a very
real sense, the moon does exist when I turn my head from it. But Bohr was not saying what Einstein
thought he was. Bohr was simply saying that we don't know what exists before we observe it so there
is little point in talking about it because anything we say is pure conjecture. He didn't deny the
existence of pre-observation "Quality" (or whatever else we choose to call it) and he didn't affirm
it, believing instead that any discussion of it was pointless. Bohr doesn't therefore fall into the
dualism you describe. There is no opposition between existing and knowing something exists, in fact
they complement each other. Existing is the default state. Quality exists, by definition. Knowing
that something exists is merely the intellectual categorisation of Quality. I don't see how you set
them up in opposition in relation to Complementarity.
Although the MoQ insists that the moon does not exist as a moon (an object) independent of
observation, it nevertheless must surely agree that the patterns of value which constitute what
someone (or something) observing them would - were they to encounter each other - recognise as the
moon, actually exist in some real sense. I suppose that in the sense of which everything can only
exist in relation with (rather than 'to') something else you are correct, but then I am correct too
because if a meteor and a moon collide out of my knowledge, they both still exist in a real way and
that is outside of my observation which as far as I'm concerned could be seen as outside of
observation altogether. Are we merely being defeated by language here or do you see some real
difference on this issue? Your talk of moons and meteors observing each other is surely just as
liable to the critique in your 'BTW' as anything I've said about observers, is it not?
Struan
------------------------------------------
Struan Hellier
< mailto:struan@shellier.freeserve.co.uk>
"All our best activities involve desires which are disciplined and
purified in the process."
(Iris Murdoch)
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