Physics: A Science in Quest of an Ontology (2nd Edition)

Physics: A Science in Quest of an Ontology

Second Edition | Revised & Expanded

To the extent that modern physics possesses an ontology at all, it has tended to be the Cartesian doctrine of “bifurcation.” Not only, however, does this thesis prove to be untenable, but since the advent of quantum theory it has rendered physics de facto incomprehensible. This book introduces an astoundingly uncomplicated and inherently Platonist ontology in which the quantum theoretic stratum assumes its rightful place within the hierarchy of being.

The Second Edition contains, as Part III, two new magisterial chapters: “Platonist Cosmology: The Long Lost Key” and “On Being and Consciousness.”  These are the final writings of Prof. Wolfgang Smith—and you won’t find them printed anywhere else.

“This book crowns Professor Smith’s thirty-year career in the philosophy of science, with a solid ontology desperately needed if we would, finally, understand quantum theory.”
—Raphael D.M. De Paola, Department of Physics, PUC-Rio

About the Author
Wolfgang Smith graduated from Cornell at age eighteen with majors in physics, mathematics, and philosophy. He subsequently contributed a theoretical solution to the re-entry problem for space flight. After taking his doctorate in mathematics at Columbia, he served for thirty years as professor of mathematics at M.I.T., U.C.L.A., and Oregon State University. Smith then devoted himself to correcting the fallacies of scientistic belief, focusing on foundational problems pertaining to quantum theory and visual perception by way of the traditional tripartite cosmology.