Kant’s Concept of Analogy and the Historical Development of Bohr’s Thought

Abstract

The principle of correspondence and, later, the viewpoint of complementarity are the axes around which Bohr's interpretation of quantum theory rotates. In this paper we claim that the Kantian notion of analogy enables a satisfactory understanding of such historical development of Bohr's thought. We shall show that the principle of correspondence guides the search for analogies in experience, while from the viewpoint of complementarity Bohr establishes symbolic analogies.