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The Eternal Law: Ancient Greek Philosophy, Modern Physics, and Ultimate Reality
The Eternal Law is a powerful integration of science, philosophy, and spirituality. Its roots are ancient, while its unique interdisciplinary vision is foundational to the new emerging consciousness. Is there an eternal mathematical law underpinning all of physical reality? How does it depend on higher metaphysical ideas, such as beauty, symmetry, simplicity, and unity? Is truth objective? Why were many of the key founders of modern science inevitably drawn to ancient Greek philosophy? Spencer's extraordinary clarity helps to restore a sane vision of reality, while deepening our appreciation of what Einstein called 'the mysterious'.
- GenresPhilosophyPhysicsScience
Paperback
First published July 19, 2012
About the author
John H. Spencer
12 books4 followersgroup captain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_H....
born 1907
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_H....
born 1907
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 21, 2023
An enthralling book, which essentially puts forward an extremely robust and logically coherent argument for platonic realism, while simultaneously delivering a devastating deconstruction and strong rebuttal for antirealism.
The central argument rests upon the fundamental assumption that reality is intelligible, and if that assumption is permitted then the rest of the intellectual scaffolding of 'science' can be built. Given that this has already happened, and continues to happen, then this is strong proof that the entire enterprise of modern science is indeed built on the foundation of platonic realism and that truth can be known. This is obviously a gross oversimplification, but it should help capture the essence of what Spencer's position is in this book.
Most readers who have already steeped themselves in deep philosophical waters, and indeed, anyone well versed in science - and in particular quantum physics - will find the book really enjoyable, easily accessible and thought provoking to say the least. There are no doubt other people who have posited similar views and positions as Spencer in various books, but this one stands out to me as Spencer maintains not only a strict adherence to the Platonic/Socratic tradition of argumentation, but also to rigorous logic when presenting his case.
The big takeaway from the book for me, is the point which ought to be hammered home relentlessly, which is, that if we do not all accept the fundamentally metaphysical assumption of an ultimate or eternal reality then we must as a result resort to pure relativism and this unfortunately is where we find many people in todays world. We have a war against reality, a war against reason, a war against truth, and this war is being fought with language. Those 'true' postmodernists (the irony) - who relativise the absolute and absolutise the relative - truly believe that to change language is to change reality. If this book helps quell this psychosocial poison even in at least a few people then it will have served a great cause.
The central argument rests upon the fundamental assumption that reality is intelligible, and if that assumption is permitted then the rest of the intellectual scaffolding of 'science' can be built. Given that this has already happened, and continues to happen, then this is strong proof that the entire enterprise of modern science is indeed built on the foundation of platonic realism and that truth can be known. This is obviously a gross oversimplification, but it should help capture the essence of what Spencer's position is in this book.
Most readers who have already steeped themselves in deep philosophical waters, and indeed, anyone well versed in science - and in particular quantum physics - will find the book really enjoyable, easily accessible and thought provoking to say the least. There are no doubt other people who have posited similar views and positions as Spencer in various books, but this one stands out to me as Spencer maintains not only a strict adherence to the Platonic/Socratic tradition of argumentation, but also to rigorous logic when presenting his case.
The big takeaway from the book for me, is the point which ought to be hammered home relentlessly, which is, that if we do not all accept the fundamentally metaphysical assumption of an ultimate or eternal reality then we must as a result resort to pure relativism and this unfortunately is where we find many people in todays world. We have a war against reality, a war against reason, a war against truth, and this war is being fought with language. Those 'true' postmodernists (the irony) - who relativise the absolute and absolutise the relative - truly believe that to change language is to change reality. If this book helps quell this psychosocial poison even in at least a few people then it will have served a great cause.
January 29, 2022
Spencer's idea of exploring the relation between Platonism and science is a good one, and he makes some strong points, but his treatment is very repetitive and lacks the depth and detail I had hoped for.
November 7, 2016
This is a good book.
April 4, 2017
This was an excellent book, and the concepts in it make so much more sense than a lot of modern (analytic) philosophy. Basically, it is about how Platonism lies at the heart of physics, and such views have been prevalent in early modern physics (with Einsten, Schrodinger, Planck, etc). Basically, the mathematical and physical forms and laws that underlie physics are "real" (this is realism) and that they are nonphysical and exist in a hierarchy above our world. This is the realm of Plato's forms, which is not just one way to explain how the world works and exists, but really the ONLY consistent way. I especially liked the discussion of quantum theory and how it is not inconsistent with realism and the existence of a mind-independent reality outside of us: yes, we affect the world, but all the "uncertainty" in quantum physics is only within our minds and not inherent in the world itself. It is our limited understanding that is where the uncertainty really arises, something that is inherent in us that we can't supersede, though that doesn't mean that there is not a "real" state of a particle out in the world.
There was also some discussion about the Platonic concept of the One from which all things arose, both the forms and the physical world alike, as well as the concept of a soul and how one could reasonably argue for its existence given the nonphysical nature of the laws of physics and mathematics.
The book was written very well and was enjoyable to read. It wasn't difficult, though some more advanced concepts were presented in a basic way that most people would have no problem understanding. The footnotes were also quite extensive (at the back of the book) and there were a lot of great quotes from scientists and philosophers throughout the text, footnotes, and appendices.
There were, however, two main things I didn't like about the book. First was the repetitiveness, because often when a single explanation was sufficient, the author would go on and on about it. It would have been clearer to just go into more detail about something rather than belabour the explanation until the heart of it becomes obscured. But this wasn't that bad compared with the second thing, which is that there is SO much time spent on saying why the anti-realists are wrong, going into many of their specific arguments. There was a whole chapter and large appendix on it, not to mention the fact that at just about every turn of the hat, we hear why the anti-realists and analytic philosophers are oh, so very wrong. A bit of this within the text would have been fine, but I wish we had more time to hear the views that author actually thinks are right instead of the critiques of others (often with a sort of arrogant humility). This might make it sound that it wasn't a good book, though that isn't the case because the positive aspects of it made up for this many times over.
I have a more thorough explanation of Platonic Realism and physics in a recent post on my blog, so check it out there if you're interested!
There was also some discussion about the Platonic concept of the One from which all things arose, both the forms and the physical world alike, as well as the concept of a soul and how one could reasonably argue for its existence given the nonphysical nature of the laws of physics and mathematics.
The book was written very well and was enjoyable to read. It wasn't difficult, though some more advanced concepts were presented in a basic way that most people would have no problem understanding. The footnotes were also quite extensive (at the back of the book) and there were a lot of great quotes from scientists and philosophers throughout the text, footnotes, and appendices.
There were, however, two main things I didn't like about the book. First was the repetitiveness, because often when a single explanation was sufficient, the author would go on and on about it. It would have been clearer to just go into more detail about something rather than belabour the explanation until the heart of it becomes obscured. But this wasn't that bad compared with the second thing, which is that there is SO much time spent on saying why the anti-realists are wrong, going into many of their specific arguments. There was a whole chapter and large appendix on it, not to mention the fact that at just about every turn of the hat, we hear why the anti-realists and analytic philosophers are oh, so very wrong. A bit of this within the text would have been fine, but I wish we had more time to hear the views that author actually thinks are right instead of the critiques of others (often with a sort of arrogant humility). This might make it sound that it wasn't a good book, though that isn't the case because the positive aspects of it made up for this many times over.
I have a more thorough explanation of Platonic Realism and physics in a recent post on my blog, so check it out there if you're interested!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews