Cosmos & Transcendence by Wolfgang Smith
In the present work, Wolfgang Smith presents an insider's critique of the scientific world-view based upon the sharp but often overlooked distinction between scientific truth and scientistic faith. With elegance and clarity he demonstrates that major tenets promulgated in the name of Science are not in fact scientific truths but rather scientistic speculations - for which there is no evidence at all. Step by step the reader is led to the astonishing realization that the specifically 'modern' world is based intellectually upon nothing more substantial than a syndrome of Promethean myths. But this is only half of what the book accomplishes. Its primary contribution is to recover and reaffirm the deep metaphysical and religious insights that have come down to us through the teachings of Christianity. And herein lies the true worth of this remarkable treatise: having broken the grip of scientistic presuppositions, the author succeeds admirably in bringing to view great truths that had long been obscured.
Smith, Wolfgang: - Wolfgang Smith was born in Vienna in 1930. At age eighteen he graduated from Cornell University with majors in physics, mathematics, and philosophy. At age twenty he received his Master's degree in theoretical physics from Purdue University, and climbed the Matterhorn. After contributing to the theoretical solution of the re-entry problem as an aerodynamicist at Bell Aircraft Corporation, Smith earned his doctorate in Mathematics at Columbia University, subsequently embarking upon a 30-year career as a Professor of Mathematics at MIT, UCLA, and Oregon State University. Above all, however, it needs to be realized that despite his impeccable credentials in physics, mathematics, and philosophy, Wolfgang Smith is at heart an outsider not only in regard to these academic disciplines, but more profoundly, in reference to the post-Enlightenment premises of our contemporary world. Early in life he became deeply attracted to the Platonist and Neoplatonist schools, and subsequently undertook extensive sojourns in India and the Himalayan regions to contact such vestiges of ancient tradition as still could be found. And one of the basic lessons he learned by way of these encounters is that there actually exist higher sciences in which man himself plays the part not merely of the observer, but of the scientific instrument: becomes himself, in other words, the microscope or telescope by which he is enabled to perceive hitherto invisible reaches of the integral cosmos. By the same token, moreover, Smith came to recognize the stringent limitations to which our contemporary sciences are subject by virtue of their extrinsic modus operandi: the folly of presuming to fathom the depths of the universe having barely scratched the surface in the discovery of man himself. Finding himself, thus, irreconcilably at odds with the prevailing Zeitgeist, Smith decided to forego a professional career in the fields of his primary interest-i.e., physics and philosophy-in favor of pure mathematics: the one and only academic discipline, he avers, in which political correctness can find no foothold. And so he enjoyed the luxury of pursuing a respected university career while being at liberty, as he puts it, to remain perfectly sane. It is no wonder, then, that when he finally confronted the so-called quantum enigma, Smith perceived the issue in a very different light than his peers. The problem all along had actually not been technical! It was not a question to be resolved by way of differential equations, nor primarily a matter of finding something new-but one of jettisoning an entire Weltanschauung. And for Wolfgang Smith this posed no difficulty: he had in fact done so decades earlier, as can be discerned in his remarkable series of publications. Wolfgang Smith's life and work are the subject of the documentary film The End of Quantum Reality, scheduled for release in early 2019.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781597310802 |
| ISBN 10 | 1597310808 |
| Title | Cosmos & Transcendence |
| Author | Wolfgang Smith |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Gracewing |
| Year published | 2008-02-26 |
| Number of pages | 180 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |