The Maze of Taste: On Bataille, Derrida, and Kant

The case of Kant\u27s Critique of Judgment offers a powerful example of the radical disruption of the metaphysical text, enacted by Bataille\u27s major сoncepts. The analysis of the metaphor of economy in Kant, Bataille and Derrida suggests the crucial importance of Bataille\u27s general economy—as the economy of loss—for deconstructing the Kantian conception of genius and the whole scheme of taste—as an economy of consumption—and inscribing a complex interplay forces that the general economy is designed to account for. Once however taste, art and the economy of genius can no longer be inscribed through the restricted economy of the metaphysical text, the question of genre and style of a different inscription—a general economy—acquires a crucial significance. Bataille\u27s own discursive practice can be seen as an exemplification of such a different—plural— style

Demons of Chance, Angels of Probability: Thomas Pynchon’s Novels and the Philosophy of Chance and Probability

This article discusses the relationships between Thomas Pynchon’s novels and the philosophy of chance and probability, especially in connection with quantum theory, which radically redefined our thinking concerning both concepts, and to begin with, the nature of physical reality. The article considers how different scientific theories dealing with chance and probability figure in Pynchon’s major novels, which, the article argues, helps us to think more deeply about Pynchon’s use of these theories or other mathematical and scientific theories, and about the relationships among literature, philosophy, and mathematics and science in general.Cet essai s’interroge sur les relations que tissent les romans de Thomas Pynchon avec la philosophie du hasard et de la probabilité, notamment dans son rapport avec la théorie quantique, qui a radicalement redéfini la façon dont nous pensons ces deux concepts, ainsi que, pour commencer, la nature même de la réalité physique. Cet article interroge la présence de diverses théories scientifiques traitant du hasard et de la probabilité dans les principaux romans de Pynchon, et cherche à approfondir la réflexion autour de l’utilisation que fait le romancier de ces théories et d’autres, qu’elles soient mathématiques ou scientifiques. Ce sont donc les articulations entre littérature, philosophie, mathématiques et, plus largement, la science que cet article vise à interroger

Quantum field inspired model of decision making: Asymptotic stabilization of belief state via interaction with surrounding mental environment

This paper is devoted to justification of the quantum-like model of the process of decision making based on theory of open quantum systems: decision making as decoher- ence. This process is modeled as interaction of a decision maker, Alice, with a mental (information) environment R surrounding her. Such an interaction generates “dissipation of uncertainty” from Alice’s belief-state ρ ( t ) into R and asymptotic stabilization of ρ ( t ) to a steady belief-state. The latter is treated as the decision state. Mathematically the problem under study is about finding constraints on R guaranteeing such stabilization. We found a partial solution of this problem (in the form of sufficient conditions). We present the corresponding decision making analysis for one class of mental environments, so-called “almost homogeneous environments”, with the illustrative examples: a) behavior of electorate interacting with the mass-media “reservoir”; b) consumers’ persuasion. We also comment on other classes of mental environments

Born's rule from measurements of classical signals by threshold detectors which are properly calibrated

The very old problem of the statistical content of quantum mechanics (QM) is studied in a novel framework. The Born's rule (one of the basic postulates of QM) is derived from theory of classical random signals. We present a measurement scheme which transforms continuous signals into discrete clicks and reproduces the Born's rule. This is the sheme of threshold type detection. Calibration of detectors plays a crucial role.Comment: The problem of double clicks is resolved; hence, one can proceed in purely wave framework, i.e., the wave-partcile duality has been resolved in favor of the wave picture of prequantum realit

Subjective probability and quantum certainty

In the Bayesian approach to quantum mechanics, probabilities--and thus quantum states--represent an agent's degrees of belief, rather than corresponding to objective properties of physical systems. In this paper we investigate the concept of certainty in quantum mechanics. Particularly, we show how the probability-1 predictions derived from pure quantum states highlight a fundamental difference between our Bayesian approach, on the one hand, and Copenhagen and similar interpretations on the other. We first review the main arguments for the general claim that probabilities always represent degrees of belief. We then argue that a quantum state prepared by some physical device always depends on an agent's prior beliefs, implying that the probability-1 predictions derived from that state also depend on the agent's prior beliefs. Quantum certainty is therefore always some agent's certainty. Conversely, if facts about an experimental setup could imply agent-independent certainty for a measurement outcome, as in many Copenhagen-like interpretations, that outcome would effectively correspond to a preexisting system property. The idea that measurement outcomes occurring with certainty correspond to preexisting system properties is, however, in conflict with locality. We emphasize this by giving a version of an argument of Stairs [A. Stairs, Phil. Sci. 50, 578 (1983)], which applies the Kochen-Specker theorem to an entangled bipartite system.Comment: 20 pages RevTeX, 1 figure, extensive changes in response to referees' comment