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Single Idea 17534

[from 'Physics and Philosophy' by Werner Heisenberg, in 8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 2. Powers as Basic ]

Full Idea

The 1924 idea of the 'probability wave' meant a tendency for something. It was a quantitative version of the old concept of 'potentia' in Aristotelian philosophy ...a strange kind of physical reality just in the middle between possibility and reality.

Gist of Idea

A 'probability wave' is a quantitative version of Aristotle's potential, a mid-way type of reality

Source

Werner Heisenberg (Physics and Philosophy [1958], 02)

Book Reference

Heisenberg,Werner: 'Physics and Philosophy' [Penguin 1989], p.29


A Reaction

[compressed] As far as I can see, he is talking about a disposition or power, which is exactly between a mere theoretical possibility and an actuality. See the Mumford/Lill Anjum proposal for a third modal value, between possible and necessary.

Related Idea

Idea 17535 Dispositionality has its own distinctive type of modality [Mumford/Anjum]