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SUMMARY:Mind and Matter: The World as &quot\;Representation&quot\; in Quan
 tum Theory - Professor Richard Bell\, Department of Theology and Religious
  Studies\, University of Nottingham
DTSTART:20111018T120000Z
DTEND:20111018T130000Z
UID:TALK33719@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:25203
DESCRIPTION:This paper makes critical use of the transcendental idealism o
 f Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804) and his disciple Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1
 860). One of their radical conclusions was that “objects” conform to 
 “subjects” and such subjects form a world of “representation”\, th
 e world of “phenomena”. Although Kant and Schopenhauer assumed that Ne
 wtonian Physics was the final theory many of their ideas cohere with Quant
 um Theory. Indeed Quantum Theory can explain how we form our world of repr
 esentation in the macroscopic realm. In everyday life “measurement” is
  constantly taking place as we form our world of representation through wh
 at has come to be called “decoherence”. A case will be made that ultim
 ately it is the mind of sentient creatures which constitutes the physical 
 world through the process of “measurement” but such constitution may o
 ften occur by indirect means. If the mind has this fundamental role it cou
 ld explain why mathematics discloses some of the fundamental structures of
  the world and why the human mind is somehow written into the very fabric 
 of universe (cf. the “anthropic principle”). The paper concludes with 
 a brief discussion of some theological implications of such an approach. O
 ne is that only God can fully access the “thing in itself”\; furthermo
 re he is the creator of this world of “noumena”. But human beings (tog
 ether with other sentient creatures) create the world of “phenomena” i
 n that their minds constitute the “physical order” and thereby act as 
 God’s co-creators. 
LOCATION:Garden Room\, Library Building\, St. Edmund’s College
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