But quantum phenomena famously resist such intuitions. Entanglement correlations occur without any mediating signal. Probabilistic outcomes emerge from identical setups. The apparent “causes” do not determine specific “effects.” In response, physicists often retreat to statistical regularity or decoherence, while philosophers argue over counterfactuals and metaphysical realism.
A relational ontology reframes the problem. Causality is not an objective chain running through time. It is a perspectival construal — a way of making sense of how particular actualisations of potential arise under relational constraint. It is not what happens, but how coherence is resolved within a field of interdependency.
1. Causality as Construal, Not Mechanism
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In an object-based ontology, causality links entities across time: particles bump into each other, signals are sent, forces are exerted,
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In a relational view, nothing “acts on” anything else — there are only differentiated constraints within a shared field of potential,
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What we call a “cause” is a perspectival explanation of how a particular actualisation came about, relative to other possible configurations.
2. From Determination to Resolution
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Classical causality presumes determination: the present fixes the future via laws,
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But quantum systems demonstrate indeterminacy: the same initial state can lead to multiple outcomes,
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Relationally, this indeterminacy is not randomness, but open potential — constrained, but not fixed,
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Causality then becomes a narrative of resolution: how constraints were configured such that a particular coherence became actual.
3. No Transfer, No Signal
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Entangled particles appear to “influence” each other instantly across space — but this misreads correlation as communication,
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Relationally, there is no transfer of information or force — only a shared field resolving under constraint,
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What we observe as correlation is the coherence of a single relational structure, not interaction between separated parts.
4. Causal Direction as Interpretive Gradient
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In classical physics, causality has a direction: from past to future,
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But the fundamental equations of quantum and relativistic physics are time-symmetric,
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Relationally, causal direction is a gradient of construal: a way of tracking how one configuration supports the emergence of another within a system of asymmetrically distributed constraint,
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The “arrow” of causality is not in the world — it is in our construal of the system’s unfolding coherence.
5. Causality as Afforded Coherence
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In ecological and cognitive systems, “cause” is often more about affordance than force — one state allows another to be actualised,
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This is also true in physics: constraints afford certain transitions, while excluding others,
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Causality, then, is how we make sense of transitions in a field of constrained potential — it is not what drives change, but what makes change coherent.
Closing
Causality is not a chain, not a push, not a metaphysical necessity. It is a construal of coherence: a way of making sense of why certain actualisations emerge from a structured field of potential. In quantum theory, this view dissolves paradox: no faster-than-light influence, no spooky action at a distance — just a field resolving itself relationally.
In the next post, we will explore how classical determinism emerges as a special case: not the ground of reality, but a particular construal of relational systems under extreme constraint.
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