The quantum-classical divide understood in terms of Bohm’s holographic paradigm

Abstract

This paper aims to interpret the problem of the quantum-classical divide following Bohm’s holographic model and to reformulate it as an indication of a new physical order. First of all I will briefly outline the differences between the classical world and the quantum one (such as locality against nonlocality, determinism against indeterminism and continuity against discontinuity); then I will claim that in order to understand the divide between the two domains we should start from what is common, and regard them as two abstractions and limiting cases of a general theory. In particular, following Bohm, I will show that the central notion of this new theory is an undivided whole characterized by a general order consisting of a holomovement from an implicate order - the quantum domain - to an explicate order - in the classical domain. This part will be explained with the aid of the structure of the hologram and will be supported by a reflection on some key terms such as ’order’, ’structure’, ’implicate’ and ’explicate’. Finally I will propose that this movement of unfoldment and enfoldment can explain the apparent incompatibility of the two physical domains and the passage from one to the other.