Why the book?
Science is increasingly important and, at the
same time, less and less able to give a good defense of itself and has
even spawned its own enemies. Sound philosophy, the sole remedy, is almost
unknown. Since science is so attractive to the modern mind and indeed,
an integral part of the modern mindset, one ought to start with science
and its findings to introduce both the need for philosophy and philosophy
itself. In short, one should utilize the natural attraction of science
to introduce philosophy. Further, in our culture, ironically, only
a scientist has the credibility to say where to look for these answers.
In addition, a scientist who knows philosophy is uniquely aware of the problems
that confront the modern mindset in relation to philosophy. These ingredients,
so important for reaching modern man, have not yet been brought together
in a book.
An intelligent student of mine once told me he was not sure reality was
real. Everything, he said, is merely appearance. Through various interpretations
of quantum mechanics, noteworthy scientists have said fundamentally the
same thing. Science, the study of nature, is then the study of what? It
is as if after a long calculation of shifting things to one side of an equation,
one gets “1 = 4” and says, “look what I’ve discovered!” instead of, “yikes,
what did I do wrong?” Of course, scientists, while doing their science,
implicitly take for granted that what they study exists. But how is it
that anyone can deny so self-evident and foundational a thing as the fact
that the real is real? Sound philosophy is sorely needed today. Not a branch
of linguistics or mathematics or a descriptive science, but a science that
reaches the fundamental level of man’s questions.
In his best seller “Brief History of Time,” Stephen Hawking agrees that
we have lost the great tradition of philosophy that continued from “Aristotle
to Kant.” Although his statement is fundamentally insightful, it is also
embarrassing in at least three ways. First, a physicist has to tell us
that we need philosophy; one would think philosophers would do this. Instead,
many philosophers have left their post in favor of approaches and even end
goals that model modern science. Rather than shore up the foundation, they
add structures to the sides and top. On the flip side, science’s success
has created an atmosphere such that only its representatives would be allowed
to say that we need something besides science. Second, Hawking shows no
inkling that he understands the completely divergent views that these two
thinkers represent. The philosophical idealism of Kant is directly opposed
to the realist position of Aristotle. Thirdly, basic elements of Kant’s thought
have been thoroughly disproved by the existence of Hawking’s own field: general
relativity. Kant thought that Euclidean geometry was the only type of geometry
that the human mind could conceive. So successful was Kant’s idea that when
the great (one of the greatest ever) mathematician Karl Frederick Gauss
was discovering non-Euclidean geometry, he was afraid to publish because
of the scorn that would be heaped on him for discovering an impossibility.
Of course, the mathematical base on which general relativity is founded
is Kant’s impossible non-Euclidean geometry. Thus, Hawking’s words convey
the need for philosophy in what he intended to say and the need for sound
philosophy in what he seems not aware of saying.
Other scientists reveal the need for the scientific community and the
people they educate to be exposed to real philosophy. A noted physicist,
the late Richard Feynman, recounted his visit to a philosophers’ conference.
The event annoyed him because of the way they only played with words. Such
an experience with misdirected philosophers was a part of his, as well
as other scientists’, general rejection of all philosophy. In “Dreams of
a Final Theory,” another renowned physicist, Steven Weinberg dedicates a
whole chapter “Against Philosophy.” Of course, he makes use of philosophy,
as we all must, in his thought and discussion. In physics and science departments
in general, it is not uncommon for the first philosophy, metaphysics, to
be thought of as the paradigm of a completely useless pomp filled subject.
These views are, in the main, shared by our science-oriented culture though
perhaps few would state them so directly as these representatives of science.
Such views reveal a profound lack of sensitivity to the very foundations
of modern science. The foundation consists of knowledge and understandings
that are outside of modern science. Most scientists know these foundational
things in an implicit not explicit way, because the work of modern science
requires no more. However, if these underlying realities are not understood
and defended, science could be the source of its own demise. One can easily
imagine damaging an object if he is not aware of its presence. If the ignorance
of these underlying philosophic realities doesn’t undermine science directly,
it may undermine the cultural fabric that supports the scientists and the
establishments of science. As Aristotle says a little error in the beginning
leads to major ones in the end.
We need real philosophy, the real science of the first principles of things;
we need its wisdom. Techniques and mathematical tools and descriptions
that masquerade as philosophy but at best are only tools of philosophy
will not do. Yet, the eclipse of philosophic sensitivity is so complete
that many scientists think that addressing purely philosophic questions is
just an extension of their scientific knowledge with no special effort or
study required. To witness this, switch on the TV to see Steven Gould, a
well-known biologist, talking about philosophic aspects of evolution as if
they are part of the field of biology. Some years ago, I was talking to a
researcher in the biology department at
What, then, is needed is not just philosophy, but a presentation of philosophy
taking just account of the scientific mindset. This mindset has particular
benefits and problems when approaching philosophy. A scientist can make
use of examples from science to bring out sound philosophy. In the same
vein, the scientist can accurately use false interpretations of scientific
concepts, theories and facts to unwind the notions that have set the modern
mind on a road of cultural and scientific suicide.
I have been a practicing scientist
for 20 years now. I have also studied philosophy for about that same period.
However, as a child and teenager, I studied only science and related fields
intently. I had a complete scientific education from childhood. In philosophy,
however, I did no study. In fact, I had no real knowledge of the existence
of such a discipline. If I thought of it at all, it was in the way a colleague
of mine (from a different department) revealed after a couple conversations
about philosophy. He said, you talk as if philosophy was one thing (i.e.
one subject)! Can anyone imagine saying that about physics or chemistry?
At that point, I was in very much the position of the average scientist and
layman in our science oriented culture. Hence, when I came to study philosophy,
I resisted its discipline largely because of tendencies ingrained from my
education, most of the causes of which I can now see clearly. As I studied
science over the past 20 years, I continually asked myself not only the scientific
questions, but also the coupled philosophical questions and applied, and
here’s the difference, philosophy to the solution not just science. As a
result of my background, I am uniquely qualified to present sound philosophy
to this group of our culture. I wrote the book I would have liked to
have read 20 years ago. It is about time that the perennial philosophy blooms
again in a field where it has often taken root only where it would not be
seen. It is, indeed, paramount because this field, the field of science,
is often the only field harvested by our culture. Ancient truths brought
to bear on the realities of modern science will help both modern science
and, what’s more important, the modern man who does the science.
In this book, I uncover the foundations of science; each chapter builds
on the previous. In chapters three and four, you will encounter topics
and discussions that are little known. Though the subjects will be familiar,
the insights into them will be, for nearly all, completely new. As, Dr.
Schneider, one of the reviewers of this book, said to me, “I used to believe
the things you point to in your book, but now, after reading your book, I
know them and no one can take them from me.” Another such reviewer said after
reading chapter three, “it seems I should have known all this, because they
are things I’ve encountered all my life but I did not really know any of
it” The depth may seem vast, but the reader should resist the temptation
to try to understand all at once. I utilize a spiral approach to the topics
so that the reader is not expected to grasp a given concept completely in
the first encounter. Terminologies and concepts are revisited throughout
the book, including in a glossary. The book is written so that the reader,
on the first read, can obtain a fundamental understanding and on the second
reading deepen that understanding.