The Quantum Mind: Alternative Ways of Reasoning With Uncertainty

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 23
  In Roundtable Session: Images of Reason and Inference in Qualitative Research: Posthumanist Innovations

Abstract

Objectives: Human reasoning about and with uncertainty is a complex affair. In this paper we explore alternative approaches to reasoning with uncertainty, drawing on Quantum Decision Theory (Pothos & Busemeyer, 2013). Our objective is to show how non-classical images of reason help make better sense of human uncertainty as an ontological feature of the state of affairs, offering concrete examples of how reasoning entails entanglement, de/coherence, and interference, which are all concepts with unique onto-epistemological relevance for social theorists working in new and trans-materialisms (Coole & Frost, 2010).

Theoretical Framework: The philosopher of science Karen Barad (2012) states very clearly that she is not “applying quantum physics to the social world by drawing analogies between tiny particles and people” for that would be a simplistic misuse of both theory and practice (p. 17). She emphasizes that there are not two domains (the microscopic and the macroscopic) with two different ontological principles. Thus she claims that quantum ontology is directly (and not simply analogically) relevant to every day matters. Wendt (2015) also argues for a new quantum paradigm to better unify physical and social ontology, pursuing both a “quantum vitalism” and a “vitalist sociology” (p. 33). These philosophers are opening up new spaces for doing qualitative inquiry, remixing the sciences with the humanities.

Modes of Inquiry: We follow Trueblood et al (2011) in arguing for a quantum approach to understanding human judgment. This paper explores the following questions: What would it look like to operate according to a quantum model of reasoning? What kind of logic would accurately capture the machinations of a quantum mind? How would decisions and judgments be achieved if they followed a quantum logic rather than a classical one? The fact that qualitative inquiry must reckon with our deeply situated knowledges makes the quantum paradigm very appealing.

Data: We analyze interview data using Quantum Decision Theory. Our analysis draws directly from quantum probability, formulated by John Von Neumann in the 1920s to explain the ‘spooky’ behavior of quantum mechanics. We analyze the data for quantum in/coherence which refers to a kind of heterogeneous ontological holism that allows us to reconsider the nature of reason and judgment. Such an approach offers new ways of thinking about the future, remixing the temporal flow of time, and re-distributing the here-now across all possible states.

Scholarly significance: Methods of qualitative inquiry are in need of new energy and new paradigms, as the nature of ‘lived experience’ is blown wide open in the post-humanities (Colebrook, 2019). Recent findings in information theory, economics, computing and ecology suggest that systems operate according to a quantum model that includes complementarity and non-locality. These examples suggest that a quantum paradigm might explain diverse kinds of behaviour and discernment (Atmanspacher, 2013; Grace & Kemp, 2013). Since most decisions and actions involve ambivalence, conflicted feelings, and lack of knowledge, the quantum paradigm seems well suited to qualitative inquiry.

Author

• Elizabeth De Freitas, Adelphi University