Bernard d'Espagnat (1921–2015)

> Pasdeloup Maurice. Regards sur la matière/Views on matter.
In: Revue d'histoire des sciences, tome 50, n°1-2, 1997. pp. 207-211. … ; (en ligne),
URL : https://www.persee.fr/doc/rhs_0151-4105_1997_num_50_1_1280

> REGARDS SUR LA MATIÈRE, Des quanta et des choses, de Bernard d’Espagnat & Etienne Klein. — En première partie, Etienne Klein nous présente, dans un langage intelligible pour tous, les fondements de la physique quantique. Bernard d’ Espagnat, lors de la seconde partie, examine les conséquences philosophiques qui s’offrent aujourd’hui au physicien en quête du réel. Loin d’apparaître comme une grande mécanique, le réel-voilé laisse entrevoir un mystère qui semblait avoir disparu. Éd. Fayard - le temps des sciences - 1993 - 309 p.
—3e millénaire, (30), Hiver 1993… (mer)

Modern physics has transformed the assumptions and worldviews of the scholars and lay observers alike. Many attempts to comprehend these innovations, from Fritjof Capra to David Bohm to David Deutsch, have been thoughtful and insightful. However, frequently philosophical interpretations (including Bohm) have been overly speculative, while those grounded in physics have often lacked a sense of the whole.

Ultimately, a serious attempt to understand the impact of modern theoretical physics requires rigor in both physics and philosophy. This is what d'Espagnat uniquely provides. Slowly, thoughtfully and in great depth, he carefully assesses the credibility of both alternative physical theories as well as their implications for and of the correlative philopsophy. This summary is only a generality, of course, but Veiled Reality provides such depth that no brief review can do the book justice.

d'Espagnat concludes that science now knocks at the door of metaphysics to bring it fresh information (p. 416). He provides the prerequisites needed to create a mind that is prepared to appreciate the broader insights that science can now provide. Within this line of intellectual exploration, there is no book I would recommend more enthusiastically.… (mer)