Quantum phenomenology: Measurement, reflection, correlation

Abstract

In his book A Phenomenological Approach to Quantum Mechanics: Cutting the Chain of Correlations Steven French presents an interpretation of Fritz London’s and Edmond Bauer’s 1939 monograph La théorie de l’observation en mécanique quantique that acknowledges and engages with the phenomenological theorizing underlying their approach to the measurement problem. My aim in the following contribution is twofold. I will first offer some historical and systematic arguments for why it might indeed be worthwhile to explore the link between phenomenology and quantum mechanics. In the second part of the paper, I will then look closer at French’s interpretation, especially his understanding of reflection, and express some reservations about a central argument of his.