The paper reveals a solution to the Macro-Object Problem using Contextual Bohmian Mechanics, suggesting new insights into quantum ontology.
Primitive ontology (PO) approaches to quantum theory aim to describe the world in terms of matter distributed in 3-space (the PO). David Albert argues they cannot recover macroscopic structure without ad hoc coarse-graining (“squinting”). This paper formalises a Macro-Object Problem for the PO-approach based on Albert’s critique and enlists Contextual Bohmian Mechanics (CBM) to offer a solution. CBM augments the PO with a local context field Λ (x,t) . While Λ is fixed, the wavefunction Ψ evolves unitarily and the particles Q follow a Bohmian guidance law; when Λ changes on a bounded region R , a local completely positive instrument updates the state, with open-system energy bookkeeping and statistical locality outside R . I show that Λ tiles spacetime into macro-object tokens, modulates the dynamics to confer genuine causal powers, and does so entirely within 3-space—thereby satisfying all the conditions for solving the Macro-Object Problem. I argue that physical objects are hylomorphic composites of both matter (hylē) and form (morphē), with matter corresponding to the particles and Λ serving as a rigorous surrogate for local form.
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William M. R. Simpson (2026) studied this question.
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