Genealogies of Scientific Construal: 8 Quantum Constellations: Indeterminacy, Superposition, and Probabilistic Potential

Focus: The microcosm as a field of multiple, coexisting possibilities.

Throughline: Possibility is non-deterministic, relational, and probabilistic, revealing new modes of actualisation at the quantum scale.

The advent of quantum theory in the early 20th century radically transformed our construal of possibility. Unlike deterministic Newtonian mechanics or relativistic spacetime, quantum phenomena are intrinsically probabilistic: particles exist in superpositions, outcomes are indeterminate until measurement, and the relational structure of the system defines what can be actualised. Possibility is no longer a fixed or pre-determined field; it is fluid, relational, and contingent upon the act of observation and interaction.

Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle formalised the limits of what can be simultaneously known, while Schrödinger’s wavefunction illustrates the coexistence of multiple potential states. Bohr’s complementarity emphasised the relational dependence between observation and the phenomena observed. The construal of possibility now operates not only across space and time, but across probabilistic and relational states, making the act of measurement itself a constitutive element of reality.

Modulatory voices:

• Heisenberg: uncertainty as relational constraint on potential.

• Schrödinger: superposition highlighting coexistent possibilities.

• Bohr: complementarity showing relational dependency between observer and system.

Quantum mechanics reframes possibility as an emergent property of relational and contextual fields. The cosmos at this scale is not a predictable machine but a network of potentialities, where actualisation occurs only through interaction within defined relational structures. The very act of construal—measurement, observation, and theorisation—participates in the becoming of possibility.