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The Philosophical Hilbert Space
What Does Philosophy Look Like to Quantum Mechanics?
In the endeavor to understand reality, two distinct yet profound disciplines often converge in their abstractness and depth: quantum mechanics and philosophy.
Quantum mechanics, with its Hilbert space of infinite dimensions, and philosophy, with its boundless exploration of ideas, both grapple with truths that are elusive and complex.
I propose a parallel between the two, where the process of philosophical inquiry is likened to navigating the Hilbert space — a domain that encompasses the totality of quantum possibilities.
The structure of quantum mechanics stands on the bedrock of mathematical abstraction, where phenomena are not fixed entities but probabilities in a state of superposition within the Hilbert space.
This mathematical construct offers a complete description of a quantum system’s potentialities, only ‘collapsing’ to a definitive state upon the act of observation.
Philosophy, in its grandest form, similarly traverses through a conceptual expanse of possibilities, theories, and arguments. It is proposed to consider philosophizing akin to exploring a Hilbert space of ideas — a “Philosophical Hilbert Space” (PHS).
