Vector Parthood
Abstract
The goal of this paper is to outline a viable notion of parthood for vectors. The importance of vector parthood has come to the fore in discussions of quantum mechanics, with two accounts existing already. We show that both fail to preserve the transitivity of parthood. We thus present a new account of vector parthood that preserves transitivity and is applicable to quantum systems. We close by suggesting some applications for the notion we present here that go beyond quantum mechanics, including ordinary sinusoidal waves (e.g., water or sound waves).
Fields of Study & Subjects
Quantum Mechanics and Applications
Philosophy and Theoretical Science
Epistemology
Ethics
and Metaphysics
Publication details
- Journal / source
- PhilSci-Archive (University of Pittsburgh)
- Publication date
- 15 January 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Preprint