In Bohmian mechanics, the quantum potential is introduced as a non-classical influence — a subtle field that guides particles along their trajectories, complementing the usual classical forces. This potential is non-local, context-sensitive, and independent of magnitude: it acts without diminishing over distance and can have dramatic effects even when its strength is arbitrarily small.
But while Bohm’s quantum potential was a bold innovation, it still inherits an implicit metaphysics: a particle in space guided by a field. In other words, the ontology remains object-based. The particle is real; the potential influences it.
A relational ontology shifts this frame entirely. The quantum potential is not something that acts on a particle — it is not a thing at all. It is the structured expression of what is possible under a given configuration of constraints. It is not a force but a formalised field of affordance — the system’s internal map of how potential actualisations cohere.
1. From Guidance to Structural Affordance
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Bohm's quantum potential plays the role of a hidden hand — guiding particles without exchange of energy,
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But this retains a split ontology: particles are “real,” and potentials are secondary or “epiphenomenal,”
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A relational shift replaces this dualism: there is no entity being guided, only fields undergoing reconfiguration,
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The potential is not what guides motion, but what defines the space of coherent actualisation.
2. The Potential as Constraint Landscape
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In standard quantum theory, the wavefunction defines the system’s possible states — it spans a space of superposed alternatives,
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The quantum potential in Bohm’s theory is derived from this wavefunction and determines how particles move,
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But what if we drop the particle entirely? Then the potential becomes a topology of constraints: a structured field in which certain transitions are more coherent than others,
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Actualisation happens not because a particle “chooses” a path, but because the system’s structure supports a resolution at a particular locus.
3. Not a Hidden Variable, but an Expressed Possibility
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Attempts to treat the quantum potential as a hidden cause — like a force we haven’t yet fully grasped — misread its function,
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Relationally, the potential is not hidden; it is the field itself construed as structured possibility,
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Its role is not to “cause” an outcome but to shape the gradient of constraint that determines how resolution unfolds,
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The so-called “non-locality” of the quantum potential reflects the wholeness of the relational system — not a spooky influence, but a distributed structure of possible coherence.
4. Collapse as Resolution, Not Selection
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In Bohmian mechanics, the quantum potential explains why particles follow non-classical paths — but it does not resolve the question of why a specific outcome is actualised,
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In relational terms, there is no hidden decision point — there is only the constraint landscape reshaping itself through actualisation,
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Collapse is not a mystery; it is the moment the system becomes locally stable — the field’s coherence achieves closure under constraint.
5. Quantum Potential as System’s Self-Theorising
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Every structured system contains, in its configuration, a kind of theory of its own possible transformations,
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The quantum potential, in this light, is the field’s implicit grammar — the rules of coherent transition inscribed in the system’s relational form,
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This is not metaphysical speculation: it is a shift in construal. The potential is how the field reads itself, how it structures possibility prior to actualisation.
Closing
The quantum potential is not a shadowy field pulling strings behind the scenes. It is the structured expression of what can happen, given the current configuration of the system. It is not a guide to motion, but the grammar of transformation. In a relational ontology, potential is not subordinate to actuality — it is the deep structure from which actuality arises.
In the next post, we will explore measurement in quantum theory — not as the moment of collapse, but as a punctualisation of potential: a local resolution within a globally constrained field of relation.
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