Ontological Revision and Quantum Mechanics

Abstract

We observe that there exists a presumed ontology, on the basis of which a dynamical theory is formulated. Extracting the essence of the ontology underlying classical mechanics, we revise it suitably to accommodate quantum mechanics seamlessly. The revision goes through two stages: First, we elaborate the concept of “state” as the propensity of an object to arouse events on discerners. Second, we integrate the position and momentum spaces into a single entity, related via the Fourier transform. Based on this revised ontology, quantum mechanics is deduced naturally without relying upon any artificial assumptions like the “quantum condition” or mathematical apparatuses like the Hilbert space and self-adjoint operators. In consequence, such thorny issues as the “measurement problem” are shown to either resolve or simply disappear.

Keywords

• Ontology
• Propensity
• Dual space
• Discerner
• Event
• Null-event