Title

Bohm's Metaphors, Causality, and the Quantum Potential

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2003

Publication Title

Erkenntnis: An International Journal of Analytic Philosophy

Volume

59

Issue

1

Abstract

David Bohm's interpretation of quantum mechanics yields a quantum potential, Q. In his early work, the effects of Q are understood in causal terms as acting through a real (quantum) field which pushes particles around. In his later work (with Basil Hiley), the causal understanding of Q appears to have been abandoned. The purpose of this paper is to understand how the use of certain metaphors leads Bohm away from a causal treatment of Q, and to evaluate the use of those metaphors.

DOI

10.1023/A:1023941005266

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