Werner Heisenberg was a pivotal figure in the development of quantum mechanics in the 1920s, and also one of its most insightful interpreters. Together with Bohr, Heisenberg forged what is commonly known as the ´Copenhagen interpretation´. Yet Heisenberg´s philosophical viewpoint did not remain fixed over time, and his interpretation of quantum mechanics differed in several crucial respects from Bohr´s. This book traces the development of Heisenberg´s philosophy of quantum mechanics, beginning with his positivism of the mid-1920s, through his neo-Kantian reading of Bohr in the 1930s, and culminating with his ´linguistic turn´ in the 1940s and 1950s. It focuses on the nature of this transformation in Heisenberg´s thought and its wider philosophical context, which have up until now not received the attention they deserve. This new perspective on Heisenberg´s interpretation of quantum mechanics will interest researchers and graduate students in the history and philosophy of twentieth-century physics.
