Two interpretations of quantum mechanics.—I

Abstract

We are going to analyse the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics and examine the consequences of a class of assumptions which form a crucial part of this theory but are not usually discussed explicitly. The assumptions we are referring to could be described as «metaphysical assumptions». It might seem that physical theories should not use ideas with this name but we will try to show that every physical theory appears to incorporate some assumptions of this kind. In practice the metaphysical assumptions which a theory does use seem to be chosen by imposing a number of requirements two of which could be roughly described as «simplicity» and «believability». But we will show that the metaphysical assumptions of the Copenhagen interpretation generate a collection of difficulties and as a result do not appear to fulfil these conditions. In the second paper of this series another interpretation of quantum mechanics will be proposed which is free of the problems of the Copenhagen interpretation.