Please excuse my limited understanding of the physics of this topic, but I have always found the HUP an intriguing puzzle regarding how to reconcile (a) the observation that position and movement cannot both be known precisely; with (b) the requirement that the universe is self-consistent. The deductive principle that physics operates by consistent laws seems contradicted by the observation that uncertainty is built into subatomic physics.

Newton’s Third Law of Motion, generalizing equal and opposite reactions, implies that for every cause there is a measurable effect. Does this break down at the quantum level? The idea that quanta are both particles and waves seems to contradict the logical law of identity, that a thing is what it is and not something else. These deductive principles are the logical foundation against which inductive measurement assesses its findings, giving the options of saying the deductive principles are wrong or that the findings are incomplete.

In looking at this material Kant’s critique of Hume is still relevant. Hume famously argued the skeptical modern empirical case that no necessary connection could be perceived between a cause and an effect. Kant, in his Critique of Pure Reason, said Hume’s skepticism did not enable us to recognise the existence of the universe, in which time, space and causality are necessary truths not given from empirical observation alone. As Einstein implied in his comments on Schrodinger’s cat, the rejection of determinism implied by the findings of quantum mechanics seems to deny this basic Kantian principle of necessary deductive truths by suggesting that causality does not operate at the subatomic level. It should be noted that this principle of causality does not diminish human freedom, because the ultimate cause can only be available to a hypothetical omniscience towards which human knowledge can only ever make a minimal approach.