Ulrich Mohrhoff
Contact information: ujm@auromail.net
Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Pondicherry 605002, India
Born and raised in Germany, Ulrich Mohrhoff joined the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education (SAICE), Pondicherry (India), a department of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram as an undergraduate student in 1972. From 1974 to 1978 he studied physics at the University of Göttingen, Germany, and at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore (India). Since settling in Pondicherry in 1978, he pursues independent research in the foundations of physics and at the interface of contemporary physics and Indian philosophy/psychology. In 1996 he began publishing original research in various peer-reviewed journals. Since 2000 he teaches a philosophically oriented course of contemporary physics to higher secondary and undergraduate students at the SAICE. He was the founding and managing editor of AntiMatters (ISSN 0973-8606), a quarterly open-access e-journal addressing issues in science and the humanities from non-materialistic perspectives, which appeared from August 2007 till November 2009. His textbook The World According to Quantum Mechanics: Why the Laws of Physics Make Perfect Sense After All, was published on April 7, 2011 by World Scientific Publishing.
Papers and Presentations
http://perfect-sense.in/wp/papers-and-presentations/
Foundations (Physics)
jump to Interface between Physics and Indian Philosophy/Psychology
2009
Quantum mechanics explained. International Journal of Quantum Information 7 (1), 435–458, quant-ph/0607005 [PDF].
A fuzzy world, in The Nature Description in Quantum Field Theory, edited by Ignazio Licata & Ammar Sakaji, Springer.
Objective probability and quantum fuzziness, Foundations of Physics 39 (2), 137–155, quant-ph/0703035 [PDF].
2008
The Controversy over the Nature of Time-Symmetric Quantum Counterfactuals: A Response to Kastner. arXiv:0801.2215 [PDF].
2006
2005
2004
Do quantum states evolve? Apropos of Marchildon’s remarks, Foundations of Physics 34 (1), 75–97, quant-ph/0307113 [PDF].
This elusive objective existence, International Journal of Quantum Information 2 (2), 201–220, quant-ph/0401179 [PDF].
Probabilities from envariance?, International Journal of Quantum Information 2 (2), 221–230, quant-ph/0401180 [PDF].
2002
The world according to quantum mechanics, or the 18 errors of Henry P. Stapp, Foundations of Physics 32 (2), 217–254, quant-ph/0105097 [PDF].
Reflections on the spatiotemporal aspects of the quantum world, Modern Physics Letters A 17 (1517), 1107–1122, quant-ph/0205058 [PDF] (invited talk at the First Meeting on the Interface of Gravitational and Quantum Realms held at IUCAA, Pune, India, December 17–21, 2001).
Making sense of a world of clicks, Foundations of Physics 32 (8), 1295–1311 (2002), quant-ph/0202148 [PDF].
Why the laws of physics are just so, Foundations of Physics 32 (8), 1313–1324 (2002), quant-ph/0202149 [PDF].
2001
Objective probabilities, quantum counterfactuals, and the ABL rule: A response to R. E. Kastner,American Journal of Physics 69 (8), 864–873, quant-ph/0006116 [PDF].
Quantum mechanics and consciousness: fact and fiction, quant-ph/0102047 [PDF].
Unveiled reality: comment on d’Espagnat’s note on measurement, quant-ph/0102103 [PDF].
A space for the quantum world, quant-ph/0107005 [PDF].
Two theories of decoherence, quant-ph/0108002 [PDF].
Against “knowledge”, quant-ph/0109150 [PDF].
2000
1999 and before
Objectivity, retrocausation, and the experiment of Englert, Scully and Walther, American Journal of Physics 67 (4), 330–335 (1999).
The physics of interactionism, Journal of Consciousness Studies 6 (8–9), 165–184 (1999); reprinted in The Volitional Brain, edited by B. Libet, A. Freeman, and K. Sutherland (Imprint Academic, 1999), 165–184 [PDF].
Quantum mechanics and elements of reality, quant-ph/9904081 [PDF].
Interactionism, energy conservation, and the violation of physical laws, Physics Essays 10 (4), 651–665 (1997) [PDF].
Restoration of interference and the fallacy of delayed choice: concerning an experiment proposed by Englert, Scully and Walther, American Journal of Physics 64 (12), 1468–1475 (1996).
Interface between physics and Indian philosophy/psychology
2012
Quantum Physics and Integral Knowledge. Presented at the International Seminar on Integral Paradigm and Other Approaches to Knowledge, organized by University of Human Unity, Auroville, January 5–8, 2012. [PDF]
2011
Indian psychology to the rescue: Why quantum physics makes perfect sense after all. Presentation at the National Conference on Individual and Collective Transformation: Insights from Indian Psychology, organized by the Department of Psychology, University of Delhi, in collaboration with India International Center (IIC), February 5–7, 2011. [PDF]
2010
Quantum Mechanics for Philosophers. Invited lecture at the Centre of Sri Aurobindo Studies, Department of Philosophy, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, February 2010.
Spiritual Dimensions of Reality. Invited lecture at the Centre of Sri Aurobindo Studies, Department of Philosophy, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, February 2010 [PDF].
Top-Down Quantum Realism. Lecture at the Department of Physics, Bose Institute, Centre for Astroparticle Physics and Space Science, Kolkata, February 2010.
2009
Quantum Ontology: Some Dos and Don’ts, Presentation for an invited talk delivered at the Fifth Nalanda Dialogue on Buddhism & Science at Nava Nalanda Mahavira, Nalanda, India, October 2009 [PDF].
Spiritual Physics, Jadavpur Journal of Philosophy 19 (1), 147–160. Invited lecture at the Centre of Sri Aurobindo Studies, Department of Philosophy, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, January 2009. Republished in AntiMatters 3 (1), 59–70 [PDF].
An Aurobindonian Discourse. The second of two invited lectures delivered at the Centre of Sri Aurobindo Studies, Department of Philosophy, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, January 2009. InAntiMatters 3 (1), 71–81 [PDF].
The Veil of Avidya. In Understanding Consciousness: Recent Advances, papers read at a seminar held at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Kolkata, India (Kolkata: RMIC, 2009) [PDF].
2008
Evolution of consciousness according to Jean Gebser, AntiMatters 2 (3), 51–78 [PDF].
Indian Psychology’s Coming of Age (Report on the National Seminar on Indian Psychology: Theories and Models, SVYASA, Bangalore, India, 26–28 December 2007), Journal of Consciousness Studies 15 (5), 121–126.
Beyond Natural Selection and Intelligent Design: Sri Aurobindo’s Theory of Evolution, AntiMatters2 (2), 9–31 [PDF].
Radical constructivism — childhood’s end, AntiMatters 2 (1), 17–25 [PDF].
Realism: the bane of science education, and what can be done about it, AntiMatters 2 (1), 27–37 [PDF].
There’s no leaving the bubble of consciousness: Herbert Müller’s 0-D epistemology, AntiMatters 2 (1), 39–45 [PDF].
As far as longing can reach… Presented at Sri Aurobindo… The New Dynamism of the Material and the Spiritual, conference held at Auroville, India, February 15–17, 2008 [PDF].
Wrong reasons and right reasons why contemporary physics favors a spiritual world view. Presented at World Congress on Psychology and Spirituality, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, 5–8 January 2008 [PPSX, PPT].
2007
The Transparent Brain. Presented at National Seminar on Indian Psychology: Theories and Models, SVYASA, Bangalore, India, 26–28 December 2007 [PDF].
Beyond the Central Dogma of Physics, Science in Society 34, 29–31 [PDF].
Fodor on Adaptationism, AntiMatters 1 (2), 55–60 [PDF].
Sewell on Darwinism and the Second Law, AntiMatters 1 (2), 61–70 [PDF].
Inside the Spirit Matrix: A Contextualization of Contemporary Physics, presented at Approaches to Mind Sciences Emanating from Indian Culture, conference organized by the Department of Psychology, University of Delhi, India, January 27–29, 2007 [PDF].
The Physics of Sachchidananda, presented at The Collective Yoga of Man: A World in Process, conference held at Auroville, India, January 12–14, 2007 [PDF], reprinted in Ribhu 4 (1), 2007, 54–61 and Sutra 1 (1), 2008, 124–128.
Particles, consciousness, volition: a Vedantic vision, AntiMatters 1 (1), 23–53 [PDF].
The Quantum World, the Mind, and the Cookie Cutter Paradigm, AntiMatters 1 (1), 55–90 [PDF].
2005
2004
Psychology all the way down, presented at the National Conference on Indian Psychology, Yoga, and Consciousness, Pondicherry, India, December 10–13, 2004 [PDF].
2001
Beyond the cookie cutter paradigm, in Consciousness and its Transformation: Papers presented at the Second International Conference on Integral Psychology, edited by M. Cornelissen (SAICE, Pondicherry), 333–345 [PDF].
1999 and before
Sri Aurobindo for Gebserians, presented at the XI International Gebser Conference, University of Shippensburg, PA, USA, November 1992 [PDF].
Agenda of an Integral Consciousness Mutation / World Transformation, presented at the XI International Gebser Conference, University of Shippensburg, PA, USA, November 1992 [PDF].