Metaphysics and Humanists

          Although I have never been especially adept at physics, I found myself very intrigued by Liz’s lecture on metaphysics in class last week. The article and subsequent lecture got me thinking about the possibilities and limitations of quantum mechanics, and who else should be concerned with the topic.

         Rather than considering metaphysics as being a wholly scientific field, perhaps it is necessary to expand it to a more humanistic audience. Perhaps it is possible to take quantum theory into the realm of psychology, sociology, philosophy, and other fields dedicated to understanding how to conceive of our surroundings. A lot of the lecture seemed to indicate that perception and human observation have some level of importance when examining quantum physics. It is a subject that deals significantly with the idea of perception and why or how we see what we see. Therefore, to me it makes sense that this is not a subject that can stay within the confines of a rigid scientific method, but rather should be expanded across boundaries.

         Most academic fields stress the idea of mastery—mastery of what can be known, and mastery of how to approach that which we do not know. Perhaps metaphysics cannot be fully understood in a scientific context until it has been approached from thinkers on all sides of the academic spectrum. Who knows? Quantum theory may be more useful to the humanists than it is to modern physicists.