Altunin, Maksym (2026) From Action to Inscription: A Structural--Contextual Analysis of Physical Information. [Preprint]

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Abstract

This article develops a structural–contextual account of how physical information is generated, stabilized, and rendered objectively determinate. Rather than treating information as ontologically primitive, the paper develops a framework in which quantized action provides a lower physical scale for the discrimination of alternatives, while contextual constraints determine when and how a specific informational value may be objectively attributed.

First, the quantum of action ℏ is not itself a bit, but sets a characteristic lower action scale for the registration of physically significant distinctions in phase-sensitive physical settings. Second, drawing on the Kochen–Specker theorem, the paper argues that informational values cannot be straightforwardly treated as globally pre-assigned across all contexts; rather, their determinate attribution is context-relative. Third, it introduces the notion of inscription, understood as the stabilization of a contextually generated distinction through a stabilizing structural condition, such as topological protection or metastable energetic separation. Such stabilization turns an otherwise transient distinction into objective, physically stored information.

Taken together, these claims support a physically grounded account on which objective physical information is not fundamental but emerges from the interplay of quantized action, structural context, and structural stabilization, in a sense that does not depend on any particular observer's knowledge or interpretation. The resulting framework complements rather than replaces existing approaches, offering a synthetic reinterpretation of the relationship between dynamics, context, and informational content.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Altunin, Maksym wegoua@gmail.com 0009-0009-4687-0240
Additional Information:	Accepted for publication in the European Journal for Philosophy of Science. This is the author accepted manuscript, prior to copy-editing, typesetting, and proof correction. The Version of Record will be available through Springer Nature.
Keywords:	physical information; action principle; contextuality; inscription; structural stabilization; Kochen-Specker theorem; quantum foundations; philosophy of physics; structural realism
Subjects:	General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics Specific Sciences > Computation/Information Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
Depositing User:	Mr. Maksym Altunin
Date Deposited:	08 May 2026 11:41
Last Modified:	08 May 2026 11:41
Item ID:	29529
Journal or Publication Title:	European Journal for Philosophy of Science
Subjects:	General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics Specific Sciences > Computation/Information Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
Date:	May 2026
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/29529

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