The French crisis: Rethinking the phenomenology of quantum mechanics.
Studies in history and philosophy of science June 13, 2025 Arezoo Islami, Harald A Wiltsche 2 citations
Quantum mechanics, when interpreted through the phenomenological lens of London and Bauer, can transform physics into a “genuine science” that is grounded in the lifeworld and transcendental subjectivity, thereby completing the project Husserl outlined in The Crisis of European Sciences. While this interpretation takes a step toward Husserl’s phenomenology, a more thorough phenomenological investigation is still required to avoid a new crisis. The authors argue that Steven French underestimates the “constitutional history” of the mathematical idealities that underpin quantum mechanics, meaning the historical and subjective processes by which those mathematical concepts were formed.