interphenomenonn.
Physics.
Reichenbach's name for a phenomenon that cannot (even in principle) be inferred or demonstrated straightforwardly from observations in accordance with the laws of classical physics. Hence used for any unobserved phenomenon.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > materiality > [noun] > thing or material object > cognizable by the senses or phenomenon
sensiblea1500
phenomenona1639
phenomen1644
palpability1841
effect1856
tangible1890
interphenomenon1944
1944 H. Reichenbach Philos. Found. Quantum Mech. i. §6. 21 We..shall consider as unobservable all those occurrences which happen between the coincidences, such as the movement of an electron, or of a light ray from its source to a collision with matter. We call this class of occurrences the interphenomena. Occurrences of this kind are introduced by inferential chains of a much more complicated sort; they are constructed in the form of an interpolation within the world of phenomena, and we can therefore consider the distinction between phenomena and interphenomena as the quantum mechanical analogue of the distinction between observed and unobserved things.
1956 H. Reichenbach Direction of Time v. §25. 217 The terms ‘particle’ and ‘wave’ both belong to the language of interphenomena. They assert something about what happens between the localized phenomena.
1956 E. H. Hutten Lang. Mod. Physics v. 195 In classical physics..the unobserved phenomena are supposed to follow the same laws as the observed phenomena. The idealised character of measurement in classical theory allows us to speak about these interphenomena.
1956 E. H. Hutten Lang. Mod. Physics v. 195 The uncertainty principle makes it impossible to introduce interphenomena.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1976; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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