Physics and Vertical Causation: The End of Quantum Reality

Wolfgang Smith attempts here a powerful rebuke of relativistic physics, and endeavors to solve the metaphysical morass engendered by quantum theory. His coinage here, of “vertical causality,” certainly has some use to it in understanding the difference between the deterministic, mechanical “horizontal causality” of starting conditions on a closed system and the causality associated with free will and the observer effect on quantum waves and particles. I can't say he really hits it out of the park, as this ingenuity is then followed by an attempt to rehabilitate an Aristotelian, geocentric cosmology.

That said, I found his discussion of the various philosophical issues with modern physics quite interesting, as was his use of the geometric metaphors of line, circle, and point to elucidate a tripartite, traditionalist cosmology where there is time and space, but no space-time. I think while his Thomist apologetics might be forgettable, his conceptualization of “vertical causality” is quite useful and will likely be picked up by future thinkers.