Conception of Material Reality in Physics & Taoism

The purpose of this research is to examine certain relationships between the conception of material reality in modern physics and Taoism. The plan of the research will be to set forth the philosophical context in which physics and Taoism have been considered together, and then to discuss the details of intersection between these two seemingly disparate disciplines.

To see how 20th-century physics relates to Taoism, which essentially dates from the life and writings of Laotse (born 571 B.C.),1 it is necessary to explore how the development of theoretical physics in modern Western culture appears to have uncovered affinities with the more ancient culture of the East. The connections have entered the popular culture since the 1970s, notably with the publication of Zukav's Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics in 1979, and Capra's The Tao of Physics in 1976. However there is evidence that initial connections of this type were being made as early as the 1940s, following on the practical application in the West of the theory of relativity by Einstein, which deals with the atomic structure and function of matter.

The philosophical attitude implicit in Einstein's special theory of relativity embraces the validity of Newtonian quantification of scientific theory according to mathematical laws,2 but it also overtakes the philosophical determinism based on an uncritical acceptance of the Newtonian universe.3 Atomic theory, which led to quantum physics, is most comp

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cally with what seems impossible to know. It is at this point that the doctrines of Taoism come into view. Yutang summarizes the fundamental Tao thought in this way. Taoism, as a philosophy, therefore, may be summed up as follows: It is a philosophy of the essential unity of the universe (monism), of reversion, polarization (yin and yang), and eternal cycles, of the leveling of all differences,-the relativity of all standards, and the return of all to the Primeval One, the divine intelligence, the source of all things.11 It should be noted that Yutang's main emphasis is in showing ethical and moral parallels between Laotse's thought and that of the highest Western ethical thought. However, the basic unitary explanation of the universe is directly relevant to the present research. The main point, which will be developed later, is that the cosmology of Taoism fuses moral with material philosophy. In Taoism, science and mysticism do not diverge but rather seem to combine. As the sayings of Laotse show, Taoism is a way of organizing the physical universe that is not necessarily separate from the spiritual universe. This is the difference between the Eastern and Western views of the universe. On the other hand, in Taoism the

Category: Science - C