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In a little-known paper published one month before his major article on complementarity and the interpretation of quantum mechanics, Niels Bohr made some comments about the influence of philosophy on the genesis of quantum theory. The main line of his argument went as follows. The connection between philosophy and the natural sciences was not only met, he said, at the earliest stages of science, but it was also a permanent one: "Cross-fertilization has taken place during the entire development of science up to recent times, where the vast accumulation of empirical data in all fields and the high standards of methods required for the acquisition and analysis of the data have necessitated extensive specialization in science". Such a cross-fertilization occurred each time physics was faced with problems "which call for a revision of The concepts underlying our understanding of observations Then, clearly pointing to quantum mechanics, Bohr added that it had been of "inestimable significance that scientists were able to find support and points of departure for new advances in the endeavors of philosophers to make clear the foundation and limits of human intellectual activity", and that these endeavors were passed on to scientists "through the formation of words which embodies the thought of these philosophers and had now become part of the common language".¹

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-2658-0_2

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