On the Notion of a Physical Theory of an Incompletely Knowable Domain

Abstract

Howmight a physical theory have the consequence that facts about some of the things it seeks to describe cannot, as a matter of principle, be completely known? The paper articulates the components of the conceptual structure of a theory that is capable of exhibiting such “inherent incompleteness.” Although the framework of the discussion is indebted to axiomatic quantum logic, the analysis is at variance with the quantum logical interpretation of quantum mechanics.