The Finger and the Moon, the Cow's Tail, and Part(icle)s: Koans, Kaons, and the Measurement of Progress
(May 24, 2018)Abstract
In recent years a few scholars within International Relations have ventured to explore quantum mechanics and now it appears a new turn may be coming to the discipline. New, and more accurate, ways of modelling behavior are being introduced by Quantum Decision Theory and Quantum Game Theory, and old Newtonian analogies and metaphors are being replaced with updated quantum counterparts with greater explanatory power. There is no doubt that this current 'quantum wave' in International Relations is the most significant, but it is not the first. In 1927, during his address to the American Political Science Association, William Bennett Munro called for political scientists to engage with quantum mechanics and to borrow, by analogy, from quantum physics to ” get rid of intellectual insincerities concerning the nature of sovereignty, the general will, natural rights, and the freedom of the individual” and discover ” the true purposes and policies which should direct human action in matters of government.” This project intends to conduct a genealogy of quantum mechanics and International Relations. Utilizing the combined methods of genealogy, semiology, and dromology, it is hoped that the historical interactions between International Relations and quantum mechanics can be brought to light. Doing so serves the dual purpose of clarifying the history and origins of International Relations, and highlighting potential new avenues of inquiry and theoretical development. This presentation will utilise Zen koans and the quantum measurement of 'strangeness' in order to elucidate the practical and conceptual hurdles currently faced by the researcher.