A way to see the interplay between theory and reality with a look at the quantum case

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to argue that neither mathematics nor logic can be applied ‘directly’ to reality, but to our rational representations (or reconstructions) of it, and this is extended to scientific theories in general. The difference to other approaches (e.g., Nancy Cartwright’s, Bueno & Colyvan’s or Hughes’) is that I call attention to something more than what is involved in such a process, namely, metamathematics. A general schema of ‘elaboration’ of theories, which I suppose cope with most of them, is presented and discussed. A case study is outlined, the quantum case, whose anchored description, in my opinion, demands a different metamathematics and a different logic.