The Statistical (Ensemble) Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

Abstract

The standard empirical interpretation of quantum mechanics is already statistical. However, a statistical (ensemble) interpretation can also be treated as a semantic interpretation which provides an understanding of empirical data. In contrast to the standard (Copenhagen) interpretation, the statistical interpretation does not refer to an individual object but it refers to a collective (ensemble) of similarly prepared ones. In 1934 the statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics was proposed by the Austrian philosopher K. Popper who followed Einstein’s ideas as they were presented at the Fifth Solvay Congress (1927). The statistical interpretation was developed by a number of American physicists and philosophers (J. Slater, E. Kemble, H. Margenau et al.) and by two Soviet Union physicists (K.V. Nikolskii and L.I. Mandelstam). After the second World War the Soviet physicist D. Blokhinsev and Canadian physicist L. Ballentine became the main figures. The philosophical and ideological presuppositions of Blokhinsev’s interpretation are discussed and V.A. Fock’s criticism of the statistical approach to quantum mechanics is elucidated.