| Summary: | Werner Heisenberg was a pivotal figure in the development of quantum mechanics in the1920s, and also one of its most insightful interpreters. Together with Bohr, Heisenbergforged what is commonly known as the ‘Copenhagen interpretation’. Yet Heisenberg’sphilosophical viewpoint did not remain fixed over time, and his interpretation ofquantum mechanics differed in several crucial respects from Bohr’s. This book traces thedevelopment of Heisenberg’s philosophy of quantum mechanics, beginning with hispositivism of the mid-1920s, through his neo-Kantian reading of Bohr in the 1930s, andculminating with his ‘linguistic turn’ in the 1940s and 1950s. It focuses on the nature ofthis transformation in Heisenberg’s thought and its wider philosophical context, whichhave up until now not received the attention they deserve. This new perspective onHeisenberg’s interpretation of quantum mechanics will interest researchers and graduatestudents in the history and philosophy of twentieth-century physics --
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