Classical and Quantum Probabilities

Abstract

The object of this paper is to bring out differences as well as similarities between classical and quantum probabilities. The first part of the paper is devoted to a brief analysis of the two main epistemological interpretations of probability — the positivist and the realist interpretation. The second part concerns the essential premises and characteristics of classical probabilities. The problem of the ″nature″ of quantum probabilities and of their differences from classical ones is the subject of the following part. The main thesis supported here is that classical probabilities are, in the general case, actual, the pontentialities before the measurement, while quantum probabilities are the measure of the potentialities of the quantum ensemble. Quantum statistical deter-minism is a concept transcending the classical definitions of determinism; it is the epistemological generalization of the fact that quantum probabilities are determined in a specific way, characteristic of the microphysical world.