Editing Implicate and explicate order (section)

== Challenges to some generally prevailing views ==
In proposing this new notion of order, Bohm explicitly challenged a number of tenets that he believed are fundamental to much scientific work:

# that phenomena are reducible to [[fundamental particles]] and [[Law (principle)|laws]] describing the [[behaviour]] of particles, or more generally to any static (i.e., unchanging) entities, whether separate events in [[spacetime]], [[quantum states]], or static entities of some other nature;
# related to (1), that human knowledge is ''most fundamentally'' concerned with [[mathematical]] prediction of [[statistical]] aggregates of particles;
# that an analysis or description of any aspect of [[reality]] (e.g., quantum theory, the speed of light) can be unlimited in its [[Field of study|domain]] of relevance;
# that the [[Cartesian coordinate system]], or its extension to a [[curvilinear]] system, is the deepest conception of underlying order as a basis for analysis and description of the world;
# that there is ultimately a sustainable ''distinction'' between reality and [[thought]], and that there is a corresponding distinction between the [[observation|observer]] and observed in an [[experiment]] or any other situation (other than a distinction between relatively separate entities valid in the sense of explicate order); and
# that it is, in [[principle]], possible to formulate a final notion concerning the nature of reality, i.e., a [[Theory of Everything]].

[[Image:Hydrogen.svg|thumb|upright=1.1|A hydrogen atom and its constituent particles: an example of an over-simplified way of looking at a small collection of posited building blocks of the universe]]

Bohm's proposals have at times been dismissed largely on the basis of such tenets.
His [[paradigm]] is generally opposed to [[reductionism]], and some view it as a form of [[ontological]] [[holism]].  On this, Bohm noted of prevailing views among physicists that "the world is assumed to be constituted of a set of separately existent, indivisible, and unchangeable 'elementary particles', which are the fundamental 'building blocks' of the entire universe ... there seems to be an unshakable faith among physicists that either such particles, or some other kind yet to be discovered, will eventually make possible a complete and coherent explanation of everything" ({{harvnb|Bohm|1980|p=173}}).

In Bohm's conception of order, primacy is given to the undivided whole, and the implicate order inherent within the whole, rather than to parts of the whole, such as particles, quantum states, and continua.  This whole encompasses all things, [[structures]], abstractions, and processes, including processes that result in (relatively) stable structures as well as those that involve a metamorphosis of structures or things.  In this view, parts may be entities normally regarded as [[physics|physical]], such as [[atoms]] or [[subatomic particle]]s, but they may also be [[abstraction|abstract]] entities, such as quantum states.  Whatever their nature and character, according to Bohm, these parts are considered in terms of the whole, and in such terms, they constitute relatively separate and independent "sub-totalities."  The implication of the view is, therefore, that nothing is ''fundamentally'' separate or independent.

{{harvnb|Bohm|1980|p=11}}, said: "The new form of insight can perhaps best be called Undivided Wholeness in Flowing Movement.  This view implies that flow is in some sense prior to that of the ‘things’ that can be seen to form and dissolve in this flow."  According to Bohm, a vivid image of this sense of analysis of the whole is afforded by [[vortex]] structures in a flowing [[stream]].  Such vortices can be relatively stable [[patterns]] within a continuous flow, but such an analysis does not imply that the flow patterns have any sharp division, or that they are literally separate and independently existent entities; rather, they are most fundamentally undivided.  Thus, according to Bohm’s view, the whole is in continuous [[flux]], and hence is referred to as the [[holomovement]] (movement of the whole).

=== Quantum theory and relativity theory ===
A key motivation for Bohm in proposing a new notion of order was the [[List of unsolved problems in physics#Quantum gravity|well-known incompatibility]] of [[Quantum mechanics|quantum theory]] with [[relativity theory]].  {{harvnb|Bohm|1980|p=xv}}  summarised the state of affairs he perceived to exist:

<blockquote>...in relativity, movement is continuous, causally determinate and well defined, while in quantum mechanics it is discontinuous, not causally determinate and not well-defined.  Each theory is committed to its own notions of essentially static and fragmentary modes of existence (relativity to that of separate events connectible by [[Wiktionary:signal|signals]], and quantum mechanics to a well-defined quantum state).  One thus sees that a new kind of theory is needed which drops these basic commitments and at most recovers some essential features of the older theories as abstract forms derived from a deeper reality in which what prevails is unbroken wholeness.</blockquote>

Bohm maintained that relativity and quantum theories are in basic [[contradiction]] in these essential respects, and that a new concept of order should begin with that toward which both theories point: undivided wholeness.  This should not be taken to mean that he advocated such powerful theories be discarded.  He argued that each was relevant in a certain context—i.e., a set of interrelated conditions within the explicate order—rather than having unlimited scope, and that apparent contradictions stem from attempts to overgeneralize by superposing the theories on one another, implying greater generality or broader relevance than is ultimately warranted.  Thus, {{harvnb|Bohm|1980|pp=156–167}}  argued: "... in sufficiently broad contexts such analytic descriptions cease to be adequate ... 'the law of the whole' will generally include the possibility of describing the 'loosening' of aspects from each other, so that they will be relatively autonomous in limited contexts ... however, any form of relative [[Wikt:autonomy|autonomy]] (and [[Wikt:heteronomy|heteronomy]]) is ultimately limited by [[holonomy]], so that in a broad enough context such forms are seen to be merely aspects, relevated in the holomovement, rather than disjoint and separately existent things in interaction."

=== Hidden variable theory ===
Before developing his ''implicit order'' approach, Bohm had proposed a [[hidden variable theory|hidden variable]] theory of quantum physics (see [[Bohm interpretation]]). According to Bohm, a key motivation for doing so had been purely to show the [[Subjunctive possibility|possibility]] of such theories.  On this, {{harvnb|Bohm|1980|p=81}} said, "... it should be kept in mind that before this proposal was made there had existed the widespread impression that no conception of any hidden variable at all, not even if it were abstract and hypothetical, could possibly be consistent with the quantum theory."  {{harvnb|Bohm|1980|p=110}} also claimed that "the demonstration of the possibility of theories of hidden variables may serve in a more general philosophical sense to remind us of the unreliability of conclusions based on the assumption of the complete universality of certain features of a given theory, however general their domain of validity seems to be."  Another aspect of Bohm's motivation had been to point out a confusion he perceived to exist in quantum theory.  On the dominant approaches in quantum theory, he said: "...we wish merely to point out that this whole line of approach re-establishes at the abstract level of statistical potentialities the same kind of analysis into separate and autonomous components in interaction that is denied at the more concrete level of individual objects" ({{harvnb|Bohm|1980|p=174}}).