THE FOUNDATION FOR TRADITIONAL STUDIES

Home

Journal

Publications

Membership

Order Form

The Wisdom of Ancient Cosmology Contemporary Science in Light of Tradition by Wolfgang Smith Foreward by Jean Borella

In the present crisis, in which Christian thought is split between an impossible fideism and its confinement to moral problems, Wolfgang Smith’s book discloses a liberating perspective which, in the name of science itself, restores to faith its entire truth. It would be hard to exaggerate the importance of such a work.

Jean Borella
Professor of Philosophy
University of Nancy

“This ground-breaking work is one of the most salient and challenging books to have appeared in our times on the meaning of traditional cosmologies and the critique of prevalent philosophical interpretations of modern science on the basis of traditional metaphysical and theological teachings.”

Seyyed Hossein Nasr
University Professor of Islamic Studies
George Washington University

In an age replete with scientism and a de facto acceptance of materialism as the supreme authority, Wolfgang Smith has consistently attempted to expose the pitfalls of modern culture at its foundational level. The Wisdom of Ancient Cosmology is the work of a vigorous mind written in a language accessible to a wide readership. It attempts to deconstruct many myths of our times, a truly courageous effort which seeks to rehabilitate science to its rightful place in the order of things.

Muzaffar Iqbal
Author of Islam and Science
President, Center for Islam and Science

What we desperately need is an intellectual metanoia, a turning from scientistic shadows to the ‘Light of the heavens and the earth’; the author, in this book and in his others, has helped to loosen our intellectual chains.

Peter Samsel
in Sophia

Wolfgang Smith, drawing upon a rare combination of expertise in mathematical physics, philosophy and traditional metaphysics, has written extensively on interdisciplinary problems relating to these respective domains. The present book has evolved out of a key ontological recognition consonant with time-honored metaphysical doctrine. In keeping with a realist view of cognitive sense perception, it rejects the Cartesian dichotomy of res extensa and res cogitans, and obviates what Whitehead referred to as the fallacy of bifurcation. In an earlier book (The Quantum Enigma, 1995) the author established two facts: first, that a consistent non-bifurcationist interpretation of physics can be formulated; and second, that this eliminates at one stroke the various forms of “quantum paradox” resulting from superposition and the so-called collapse of the state vector. The crucial ingredient of the new approach, mandated by the aforesaid recognition, is an ontological distinction between the physical domain, accessed via measurement, and the corporeal, accessed by way of cognitive sense perception.

In the present book the author extends this metaphysically-based interpretation from fundamental physics to contemporary cosmology. With the aid of a few additional conceptions consonant, say, with the Thomistic doctrine—such as the concept of what he terms “the extrapolated universe”, or the notion of “vertical causation” relating to intelligent design—he treats a broad range of issues from a unified metaphysical point of view. Not surprisingly, his conclusions tent to be radically at odds with the prevailing interpretations of scientific data, regardless of whether these are based upon naturalistic or scientistically theistic presuppositions. The author’s approach may thus be characterized as the third alternative: the sole option, it appears, consistent with the Aristotelian and Platonist traditions, and with the wisdom of Christianity, as delineated especially in the Patristic writings.

Wolfgang Smith is well known in traditionalist circles through his earlier books, Cosmos and Transcendence, Teilhardism and the New Religion, and The Quantum Enigma, as well as through numerous articles. As a scientist attracted since his early years by the great metaphysical schools, his writings represent a unique encounter between contemporary science and metaphysical tradition. Smith graduated from Cornell University at the age of eighteen with majors in physics, philosophy and mathematics, and received an M.S. from Purdue University in theoretical physics. He was subsequently employed as an aerodynamicist at Bell Aircraft Corporation, where he distinguished himself by laying the theoretical foundation for the solution of the re-entry problem. After receiving a Ph.D. in mathematics from Columbia University, he held faculty positions at M.I.T., U.C.L.A., and Oregon State University. Professor Smith retired from academic life in 1992 to devote himself full-time to his literary pursuits.

ISBN 0-9629984-7-8     Pp. 252     $16.95

To order  materials from the Foundation, print out our order form, fill it out, and mail it to us with your payment.