What classicality? Decoherence and Bohr's classical concepts

Abstract

Niels Bohr famously insisted on the indispensability of what he termed “classical concepts.” In the context of the decoherence program, on the other hand, it has become fashionable to talk about the “dynamical emergence of classicality” from the quantum formalism alone. Does this mean that decoherence challenges Bohr’s dictum—for example, that classical concepts do not need to be assumed but can be derived? In this paper we’ll try to shed some light down the murky waters where formalism and philosophy cohabitate. To begin, we’ll clarify the notion of classicality in the decoherence description. We’ll then discuss Bohr’s and Heisenberg’s take on the quantum—classical problem and reflect on di..