Quantum Tunneling to the Pacific? Remarks on Alexander Wendt’s Quantum Social Science

This paper aims at critically discussing Alexander Wendt’s attempt to provide a quantum approach to the study of society and international politics in order to resolve the mind–body problem. Some of the considerations this paper raises concern issues of methodology while others of content. As to methodology, it has been argued that Wendt fails, in general, to offer precise arguments in support of his claims. More precisely, Wendt’s arguments fall frequently short in terms of cogency due to violations of well-known criteria that should govern the deployment of the pertinent argument forms. As to content, Wendt, knowingly or not, remains too eclectic both as to physical theories and as to metaphysical assumptions. The paper argues that one can detect several misconceptions in Wendt’s work, pertaining to theories of physics as well as to their philosophical interpretations. In order to illustrate the complete detachment of Wendt’s speculations from the scientific methodology and the frontier of science, the paper presents specific examples of emergent behaviour from the physics of complex systems. The paper insists on the need for a clear core and orientation. Otherwise, there are neither heuristic guidelines for the advancement of the programme nor criteria that could distinguish success from failure.