Michel Bitbol (born March 12, 1954) is a French researcher in

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ulti ...

. He is "Directeur de recherche" at

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,63 ...

, previously in the Centre de Recherche en Epistémologie Appliquée (CREA) of École polytechnique (Paris, France). He is now a member of Archives Husserl, Ecole Normale Superieure (Paris, France).

Career

His research interests are mainly focused on the influence of

quantum physics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, q ...

on philosophy. He first worked on

Erwin Schrödinger Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger (, ; ; 12 August 1887 – 4 January 1961), sometimes written as or , was a Nobel Prize-winning Austrian physicist with Irish citizenship who developed a number of fundamental results in quantum theo ...

's metaphysics and philosophy of physics. Using theorems demonstrated by Jean-Louis Destouches, Paulette Destouches-Février, and R.I.G. Hughes, he pointed out that the structure of quantum mechanics may be derived to a large extent from the assumption that microscopic phenomena cannot be dissociated from their experimental context. His views on quantum mechanics converge with ideas developed by

Julian Schwinger Julian Seymour Schwinger (; February 12, 1918 – July 16, 1994) was a Nobel Prize winning American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work on quantum electrodynamics (QED), in particular for developing a relativistically invariant ...

and

Asher Peres Asher Peres ( he, אשר פרס; January 30, 1934 – January 1, 2005) was an Israeli physicist. He is well known for his work relating quantum mechanics and information theory. He helped to develop the Peres–Horodecki criterion for quantum ent ...

, according to whom

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, q ...

is a "symbolism of atomic measurements", rather than a description of atomic objects. He also defends ideas close to

Anton Zeilinger Anton Zeilinger (; born 20 May 1945) is an Austrian quantum physicist and Nobel laureate in physics of 2022. Zeilinger is professor of physics emeritus at the University of Vienna and senior scientist at the Institute for Quantum Optics and Qu ...

's, by claiming that quantum laws do not express the nature of physical objects, but only the bounds of experimental information. More recently, he has written in support of

QBism In physics and the philosophy of physics, quantum Bayesianism is a collection of related approaches to the interpretation of quantum mechanics, of which the most prominent is QBism (pronounced "cubism"). QBism is an interpretation that takes an a ...

, arguing that it parallels some ideas in

phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...

. Along with this view,

is no longer considered as a physical theory in the ordinary sense, but rather as a background framework for physical theories, since it goes back to the most elementary conditions which allow us to formulate any physical theory whatsoever. Some reviewers suggested half-seriously to call this view of physics "Kantum physics". Indeed, Michel Bitbol often refers to the philosophy of I.

Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aest ...

, according to whom one can understand the contents of knowledge only by analyzing the (sensorial, instrumental, and rational) conditions of possibility of such knowledge. He was granted an award by the French "Académie des sciences morales et politiques" in 1997, for his work in the philosophy of quantum mechanics. Later on, he concentrated on the philosophy of mind and consciousness, defending a strongly anti-reductionist and neo-Wittgensteinian view. He collaborated with

Francisco Varela Francisco Javier Varela García (September 7, 1946 – May 28, 2001) was a Chilean biologist, philosopher, cybernetician, and neuroscientist who, together with his mentor Humberto Maturana, is best known for introducing the concept of autopo ...

on this subject. He has written a systematic criticism of one of the original versions of

speculative realism Speculative realism is a movement in contemporary Continental-inspired philosophy (also known as post-Continental philosophy) that defines itself loosely in its stance of metaphysical realism against its interpretation of the dominant forms of ...

, formulated by

Quentin Meillassoux Quentin Meillassoux (; ; born 26 October 1967) is a French philosopher. He teaches at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Biography Quentin Meillassoux is the son of the anthropologist Claude Meillassoux. He is a former student of th ...

. The title of his book published in 2019 ("Maintenant la finitude") is a direct reply to Meillassoux's "After Finitude". He participated in the 2002/2013 conferences of the

Mind and Life Institute The Mind & Life Institute is a US-registered, 501(c)(3) organization, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1991 to establish the field of contemplative neuroscience, contemplative sciences. Based in Charlottesville, Va., the institute ...

, whose aim is to promote a dialogue between

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

and

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

. He subsequently wrote a book developing a thoroughly relational reading of quantum mechanics, with due reference to the Buddhist concept of dependent arising.

Bibliography

*''Mécanique quantique, une introduction philosophique'', Champs-Flammarion, 1997. *''L'aveuglante proximité du réel'', Champs-Flammarion, 1998. *''Physique et Philosophie de l'Esprit'', Champs-Flammarion, 2005. *''Schrödinger's Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics'', Kluwer, 1996. *''De l'Intérieur du monde'', Flammarion, 2010. *''La conscience a-t-elle une origine?'', Flammarion, 2014. *''La pratique des possibles, une lecture pragmatiste et modale de la mécanique quantique,'' Hermann, 2015. *''Maintenant la finitude'', Flammarion, 2019. Translations *French translation of Schrödinger's ''Mind and Matter'' (with an extensive introduction), Seuil, 1990. *French translation (with Annie Bitbol-Hespériès) of Schrödinger's: ''Nature and the Greeks'' (with an extensive introduction), Seuil, 1992.

References

External links

Michel Bitbol's homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bitbol, Michel 21st-century French philosophers Philosophers of science 1954 births Living people French male non-fiction writers Academic staff of École Polytechnique Research directors of the French National Centre for Scientific Research