The Principle of the Primacy of the Whole: From Classical Probability to Quantum Physics

The Principle of the Primacy of the Whole (PPW) asserts that the whole is primary, while alternatives exist only as conditional constructs. In classical probability theory the whole is defined through all alternatives, but in quantum mechanics the whole is characterized only by general properties. The wave function defines the whole, while superposition indicates from which individual properties we abstract. Alternatives can only be analyzed conditionally: with respect to the whole or with respect to the set of all possible alternatives (via the relative probability formula). This paper shows that PPW provides a new understanding of: Heisenberg’s uncertainty relation as a statistical property of the whole, paradoxes (double-slit, Schrödinger’s cat, entanglement) as illusions arising from granting primacy to alternatives, renormalization as a normalization of the whole, eliminating the false primacy of local contributions.