As we presented in the previous issue, Wolfgang Smith is an unequivocally proven giant of science and philosophy. In this issue, we will review his most recent book: The Vertical Ascent (VA): From Particles to the Tripartite Cosmos and Beyond (2021). Smith argues that the sole authority of science was shaken, if not destroyed, with Quantum physics in 1926. The measurement problem seriously threatens the dominant scientific understanding of reality. The Thomistic view of reality turns out to be wrong. First, as we dig deeper, scientists came up with something unusual instead of finding hard matter, simultaneously acting like particles and a wave. They almost do not exist. They had a kind of half-existence. They could be simultaneously in a state of existence and non-existence, just like Schrodinger’s famous cat example.

“Defined in effect as “mass extended in space,” that renowned “matter”—touted by triumphant “materialists” as the substance out of which all things whatsoever are composed—turns out in truth to be no more than an imaginary “peg” for measurable attributes, such as mass and Spatio-temporal coordinates.” (VA) “And though it turns out that “between” the corporeal world and that “nothingness” there are atoms composed of protons, neutrons, and electrons—quantum particles which “half-exist” if you will—it has since become clear that continuing “downwards” one arrives at “depths” where not even phantom particles such as “quarks” are to be found” (VA) Second, as we measured the Quantum particles, we came across nonlocality. It means that at the macro level, as we observe everything within a certain point in space, at the Quantum level, particles could be in more than one place at the same time. They behave as if they could be everywhere at the same time. Only we, as observers, measure them, the wave function collapses, and oblivious particles take a concrete form in space. Third, as we study the universe, we see that the entire universe behaves like a whole, more than an aggregation of parts. Smith believes that “vertical causality derives from wholeness, whereas the horizontal derives from parts: and ontologically speaking, the whole has primacy over the parts.” (VA)

Smith argues that scientists could not end the enigma of the measurement problem despite collective efforts for nearly a century. That is because they need a new ontology. Materialist ontology does not go beyond the physical realm. Smith uses tripartite to define three realms, the circumference, the center point, and the intermediary. The circumference is the physical realm bound to both time and space. At the core, there is a soul not constrained by time and space. In between, other creatures are not bound by space but constrained by time. With three categories of beings, Smith brings another type of causation: vertical. Horizontal causation is what we observe in the physical realm. That is the material cause. In his terms, horizontal causation “operates “in time” by way of a Spatio-temporal process, and the “vertical” kind does not. But whereas it is generally assumed that horizontal causation covers the entire ground, the opposite has now come to light. Given that the primal substance is subject neither to space nor time, the absolute primacy of vertical causation is obvious from the start.” (VC) 

Smith seems to agree with David Hume denying observed causation as a true cause. However, he thinks causation does exist. It is a fundamental reality. We know causation does exist because we could cause something through our actions. Since we have agency, we know that causation requires agency. Thus, horizontal causation in the physical realm is not a real cause because matter has no agency. God, who is beyond time and space, is the real cause behind apparent causation in the physical realm. Though Smith does not explicitly invoke God by name, he seems to mean God when he talks about “vertical causation.” He thinks the measurement problem reveals that there must be God who is in a different realm causing the quantum particles/waves to act as they do. 

Causation is the leading cause for many people to deny or forget the Creator. That is because if we ascribe ongoing creative acts to material causes, we could only talk about them as a First Cause or if we observe miracles. Therefore, seeing many people lose faith as they explore this idea is not surprising. Smith refers to recent studies on sight to prove the existence of vertical causation. In his terms, “both visual and intellectual perception demands a supra-temporal act.” In other words, he argues, it is not possible to attribute sight to neural activities. Seeing is not a subjective mental construct in the mind. Instead, it is the experience of the self which experiences through the body. Smith calls it a corporal being. For that matter, what we experience in the corporal realm is as real as physical reality. However, the corporal realm could not be measured through physical measures. Instead, one needs to ascent from the physical to access the reality of the corporal realm.

Smith argues that we do not understand the true nature of sight if we only look at it through the lens of horizontal causation. Instead, “we must insist that this “seeing” is not, in fact, a “process,” but a vertical and therefore instantaneous act. As the expression goes, it is manifestly a question of “seeing the point”—and a “point” is to be seen “all at once” or not at all.” In his most recent book, Smith gives the sighting to the soul, which is bound to time but not space. Since the souls being in the different realms could be the source of vertical causation, not the matter. “Not only, thus, is that soul needed to “bind” the neurons in the visual cortex as noted before, but it is required to “bind” the entire organism and, in so doing, render it both living and sentient.” (VA) 

As seeing is not from neurons, Smith argues that what the eyes see is not just matter. He talks about an apple as an example. He says there are two red apples. “There is the “red apple” we can perceive, hold in our hand, and bite into: the “corporeal apple,” I call it; and there is, in addition, the “physical apple,” made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons, or more generally, of “quantum stuff” howsoever conceived. And these two entities—though they occupy the same spatio-temporal locus—are manifestly not the same!” (VA) 

Some Enlightenment philosophers, such as Kant, argue that we could never penetrate the ultimate reality in the universe. We could only experience phenomena, not noumena. Husserl disagrees, arguing that we could access noumena through the conscious self. That is self-evident intuitive knowledge. We do not need empirical evidence for that type of knowledge. As we know what it takes to cook delicious food, we also know what it takes to build the planet earth like a giant palace. That is because we know through the self the necessity of agency behind true/vertical causation. Smith invites scientists to be humble by accepting the limitation of their knowledge which is based on horizontal causation: “Why are there no scientists honest enough to admit that even the indexes of their chosen fields of expertise, much less the contents of those fields, lie infinitely beyond the scope of their vision?” (VA) 

Smith points to two different ways of comprehending reality: sensible and intelligible. Thus, everything signifies something else to intelligent beings like us. Like Plato’s prisoners, we shall find a way to connect shadows to the reality behind them. “The reality of the “visible” world—be it corporeal or subtle—may therefore be conceived, in both the Platonist and the Christian traditions, as inherently semantic: visible entities, thus, are fundamental signs signifying an intelligible referent.” (VA) “The visible world, the forms of which constitute the various symbolic signifiers, only possesses a deficient being, an image or manifestation of a world invisible and alone truly real, or at the very least, nearer to the unconditioned Source of being and truth.” (VA)