A Kantian Interpretation of Niels Bohr's Early Correspondence Principle: 1917-1924
Keywords:
Bohr, Kant, atomic theory, correspondence principle, quantum physicsAbstract
In the present paper I aim to discuss the philosophical foundations of the early correspondence principle (1917-1924), by comparing the conceptual structure underlying the first correspondence principle with the procedure of analogy that Immanuel Kant introduced in the Critique of Judgment from 1790. On such a comparison, I will seek to demonstrate the consistency of the conceptual ratio according to which the correspondence principle is to the classical "concepts" of space and time, as these a priori forms of intuition (space and time), in Kant, are related to the separate faculty of pure intuition. As a result, it will turn out that the conceptual structure of the correspondence principle suits to the Kantian doctrine of a separate faculty of pure intuition, which is divided from the faculty of understanding. The aim is to shed new light on the line of reasoning underlying Niels Bohr's analogical thinking in quantum physics.
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