Introduction

This paper advances the possibility that the apparent logical fissure emergent in reductionist thought coming from orthodox science of the twentieth century and the application of the scientific method is manifest in what we know and do not understand in quantum mechanics can be liaised to an intellectual percept though the perspective offered by Herman Dooyeweerd’s theory of Modal Aspects. In simple terms this means that while we do not know what complexity is in reality, most of us are ready to agree that we live in a complex world. This complex world of ours we do contend is the Universe. In this Universe at one point in time in the evolution of human thought it seemed intuitive and reasonable to think and believe that the Earth was flat and that the Sun revolved around the Earth. Most of us have by now accepted that an Earth centred Universe was a fallacy of those archaic dark times. Why would we think that humans born of the earth, and returning to it upon death, are any different from the rest of Matter in the Universe?

When introducing a new theory, and in the particular case of bridging two disciplines, those of quantum theory and modal aspects, there are challenges caused by the fact that there is yet no terminology or translation tables available. However it would be helpful to think that when looking at phenomena, be it physical or behavioural, one needs to take particular account of the context. When dealing with physical phenomena, say an atom, part of the context is comprised of physical variables such as temperature or other surrounding Matter. In the particular case of atoms, these do not exhibit macroscopic wave nature at ordinary high temperatures such as room temperature, and do bounce around like billiard balls. Take the case of a sodium atom at room temperature a bit further, if this sodium atom is surrounded by normal atmosphere, it will not remain very long in that state as it will react with the water and oxygen in the atmosphere, and it is only within a vacuum chamber that one can isolate single sodium atoms at room temperature as a vapour. However when a sufficiently dilute sodium gas cloud is isolated in vacuum and cooled to less than a millionth of a degree of absolute zero these same atoms will exhibit observable wave nature, and can be manipulated to form an atom-laser, that is, a beam of coherent Matter analogous to the better known photon laser as demonstrated by Ketterle (2006). However the sodium atom in an atom-laser is indistinguishable from a sodium atom in table salt ionically (chemically) bound to a chlorine atom, they differ however in their physical and environmental contexts, and thus displays different interactions and behaviours. One can look at this atom in the two different contexts as expressing different Modal Aspects.

Quantum mechanics and quantum theories do not appear intuitive and have throughout their gradual evolution during the century of their formulation met with considerable resistance, opposition and disbelief from well-established and credible scientific and philosophical scholars. Nonetheless the success of the various elements of quantum mechanics theory in explaining observed and measurable phenomena have stood their own ground and advanced the cause that we refer to as knowledge. Those arguing against the validity of the various aspects of quantum theory have gone to either rationalize their own beliefs by various intellectual stratagems, or stood corrected, learned and went on towards continuing the exploration and expansion of human knowledge.

In this paper we aim to enrich this exploration and expansion by introducing a non-reductionist approach to understanding the atom and all reality, based on the work of the Dutch philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd. We start with a premise that seems contrary to past philosophical discourses, and that from an holographic perspective given by a quantum theoretical view of the Universe is however obvious, that is that humans, being part of the Universe, and an organised assembly of specific molecular forms of Matter, function in the same Aspects and are subject to their laws in the same manner as any other Matter including microscopic Matter.

Based on Dooyeweerdian thinking we postulate that all things, including atoms and their subatomic components function within a number of Aspects (Quantitative, Spatial, Physical, Kinematic, Lingual, Biotic, Sensitive, Analytical, Formative, Social, Economic, Aesthetic, Juridical, Ethical, Pistic). The Aspects provide us with a distinct meaning of the entities or events we encounter in life with the atom being one such thing. They also give us distinct conceptual frameworks from which we can understand, describe and discuss the world including the atom. Finally, they provide us with clarity which allows us to make distinctions between different things thus avoid overlap. This last potential is particularly useful to clarify the often confusing discussion surrounding the nature of the atom. Immediately, this approach recognises that things, like the atom, are not simple but can be quite complex and function in a reality that is multi aspectual.

The notion of Aspects is introduced in terms of these being ways of describing things or modes in which things like the atom function. A number of important features of Aspects are introduced including their equal importance, dependency on each other, order amongst aspects, and their irreducibility. At this point it is natural to say that atoms respond to all Aspects. However, we accept that entities respond, function or exhibit behaviour in these Aspects in varying ways. Some Aspects are more relevant than others when we try and account for the meaning of these entities. This proposition opens the way for introducing the notions of the “Qualifying” and “Founding” Aspects, which we will use to describe the nature of the atom. The “Qualifying Aspect”, is the one that captures, more intuitively, than the others the meaning of the atom. However, by itself this Aspect does not tell us anything unique about the atom to distinguish it from other things qualified by the same Aspect. This is where the notion of a “Founding Aspect” is brought in. However, these two types of Aspects are not to be seen as separate when discussing the atom. We argue that they bind together in an inseparable way and use the notions of “Enkapsis” or “Type Law” to elucidate a way of thinking of these. The notions of Qualifying, Founding Aspects and their Enkapsis form the basis from which we discuss and explain the dual nature of the atom.

According to this approach the atom – representing the basic unit of which molecules are assembled - functions in all Aspects as Humans do but with varying degrees of expression. This enables us to introduce the basis for arguing not only the role of Humans in the debate surrounding sub atomic matter but also to gain some insight in what the quantum limit represents. We will argue that even though all creation functions and is subject to the laws of all Aspects they do so in varying ways exhibiting various extents of expression for each particular Aspect. We borrow the terminologies of “Active” and “Passive” aspectual functioning to discuss and understand this issue. The interconnectedness of particles at the sub atomic level is treated under one of the fundamental notions of the whole of the Multi Aspectual philosophy. This notion states that Aspects are inseparable from each other and that within each Aspect there are echoes of all other Aspects. This inseparability opens up the debate for discussing how, why, when and what happens as one atom affects another.

It is expected that a Multi Aspectual framework for understanding atoms as prescribed above will put the atom in a more intuitive position in relation to our understanding of the rest of reality. The atom is no longer to be treated as an alien or paradoxical entity but rather as a thing subject to the same Aspects and Aspectual laws that enable the functioning of the rest of reality. This intuitiveness will hopefully advance Science in ways possibly not imagined before. Finally, this paper will be yet another small step for taking Dooyeweerdian way of thinking to go beyond social sciences into the world of Physics and maybe other fields of human enquiry.

The Scientific Method, Quantum Mechanics and Reality

The exact nature of reality has puzzled humanity for centuries, perhaps even millennia. Science and the scientific method approach claimed to have the right to lead the way to what became known as the quest towards discovering the Holy Grail of reality, a reality that was then assumed to be physical, exact, and measurable. The two major figures who influenced this endeavour were those of Francis Bacon (1561-1626) and Descartes (1596-1650). The two views were diametrically opposed to each other. Whilst Bacon advocated the dominance of humanity over nature and was proponent of an experimental, qualitative-inductive approach, Descartes on the other hand followed a mathematical-deductive approach driven by the assumption of a perfectly deterministic world. Modern science uses a combination of the two approaches with mixed degrees of success.

Most would regard quantum physics and its new insights as phenomena solely manifest in the microscopic scale and whose consequences need not concern us in the comparatively huge world of our daily life. Quantum physics poses a challenge to our perception but science seems unable to provide an adequate and convincing answer. It may at this point be appropriate to address the nature of the failure. Is the failure inherent in science methodology, or is it a perception failure?

Whatever the nature of the inadequacy we are left with some difficult and still unsettled philosophical dilemmas. They are the dual (corpuscular-wave) nature of matter, the role of the human at this subatomic level, and the subatomic interconnectedness. The first concerns the much debated and often publicised question that matter, all Matter, behaves like both a wave and as a particle. The second one suggests that what you do to one particle can affect a second, even if they are sufficiently separated in space. This suggests that particles are connected over large distances by "non-local" forces acting instantaneously. The third one carries an even greater challenge questioning if there is a role for humans functioning at the level of every day life at the microscopic level of the atom.

If observed phenomena can be explained by models that seems to not be intuitive, what is then in the nature of the so-called intuition that obscures the reality of the evidence? Does the difficulty reside within intuition, reality, or with the evidence itself? In our Universe, what are the characteristics of what we call Matter? How does Matter manifest itself and how do we perceive this Matter?

Dualism

A fundamental characteristic of atoms as described by quantum mechanics is that they are not simply particles or waves, but exhibit both wave and particle properties. While the interference of light quanta wave packets – photons – to yield dark and light regions can be imagined by thinking that when waves meet crest to trough they cancel each other, or add up in meeting crest to crest or trough to trough, the idea of doing the same with sodium atoms is not intuitive.

In the early twentieth century the very nature of the scholarly understanding of Matter was challenged when Max Planck (1858-1947) proposed that if energy were absorbed and radiated in discrete quanta, the black body radiation spectrum – the spectral distribution of electromagnetic radiation in thermodynamic equilibrium with matter – could be explained, while the equations derived from classical theory where in violent disagreement with the experiment; this was Planck’s contribution to our understanding of the Universe and for which he was awarded the Physics Nobel Prize in 1928. With this first assault on classical physical theory demonstrating its fallibility, Planck thus opened up the door to the elaboration and development of quantum mechanics, which in turn allowed for an adequate accounting of various physical phenomena for which the so-called classical physics comprising mechanics and electromagnetism could offer neither explanation, physical description or cognitive insight.

Max Born (1882-1970) proposed that the quantum mechanical wavefunction determine the probability of the measuring results thus taking the view that quantum mechanics gives only a statistical description. Adding the statistical description to the matrix mechanics of Dirac to the tools available to explore the then new quantum possibility opened up many avenues to both theorists and experimentalists.

Eric Cornel, Wolfgang Ketterle and Carl Wiemar, shared the Physics Nobel Prize in 2001 for experimentally enabling the demonstration of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute alkali metals trapped as a gas inside an ultra high vacuum chamber. The world’s first direct observation of a matter wave function equally capable of displaying interference phenomena like that observed of a photon or electron wave function was achieved with a dilute gas of alkali atoms. Intuitive or not, Matter, all Matter behaves both as a particle and as a wave.

While quantum mechanics provided some explanations to then classically unexplainable but observable physical phenomena, such as the photoelectric effect, which Einstein explained, it also created formidable philosophical challenges since it apparently violates what were considered basic ontological principles on which classical physics rested, most notably those with a deterministic character.

It is possible to rationalize away the lack of materialistic correspondence in the case of a photon wave packet due to the photon’s lack of mass, in the case of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate – a macroscopic population of millions of atoms in a single quantum state – exhibiting the same behaviour, most concepts of the material world break down and reductionism’s materialistic perspective fails the observed reality. The wave nature of Matter is represented by a wave function, that is, by a mathematical representation of the particle’s probability of being at a certain location. In plain terms this means that the interference pattern represents a way to comprehend or visualize that there are locations in the dimensions that we call space with zero probability of finding the particle there, and other locations where there is a maximal probability. In either circumstantial extreme and in between, this interference ripple pattern corresponds to the absolute square of the wave function in that volume.

Through our perception we sense the physical and non-physical world’s information through a series of perceptive screens – senses, sensors, instruments, filters, prejudices, beliefs – and have build according to these perceptions based on an incomplete set of information an almost exclusively materialistic story of reality. We do not sense all information being broadcast – isotropically or anisiotropically – at us simultaneously. We – humans – do not have enough sensory processing capacity to register – perceive – it all simultaneously, at least not at this point in our organic evolution. This may be seen as pointer to the limitations of the sensory aspect to accommodate and account for all reality. Hayek (1945) formulated this idea as what is often referred as the bounded rationality that has inspired many economists towards the formulation of rational economic order theories and materialism.

Human endeavour has not limited itself to either reductionism or materialism theories regardless of how popular these may have been in the last few centuries within Western culture. In abstracting our observations through the limited sensory and processing apparatus of both our technologies and cognitive abilities, through out the millennia of human existence we have constructed and explored theories of varying complexity driven by a compulsion to make sense of it, create meaning, predict the future and control it. Clément (2003) conjectures that in getting a good picture of the causal nature of the world allows for a wide range of accurate predictions that can favour various volitional goals.

It was only recently in the early years of the twentieth century that it was observed experimentally that light behaved as tiny particles now called photons. Wave-particle duality was first discovered to be a feature of light in the early part of this century by Albert Einstein when he demonstrated that the photoelectric effect could be understood if one postulated that radiation itself consists of a beam of corpuscles (particles), the photons. It was for this work that Einstein was awarded the Physics Nobel Prize in 1921. Subsequently, experiments by Clinton Davisson and George Thomson, who shared the Physics Nobel Prize in 1937, demonstrated that electrons, traditionally regarded as particles, also behave as waves in experiments where an electron beam is diffracted from a crystal lattice. In fact, diffraction experiments lend support to the interpretation of the wave-particle duality of microscopic objects and that there exists a statistical bond between their wave nature and their particle aspect. It is of interest to note that the Physics Nobel Prize in 1906 was awarded to the J. J. Thomson for discovering the electron, and to de Broglie in 1929 for discovering that the electron behaves as a wave.

Entangled Paradoxes

Time and space may have stood still during the last century while quantum mechanics was being formulated however the human quest for knowledge has continued to advanced. Those unencumbered by the plight of not intuiting the dual nature of matter have gone on to gather further evidence that quantum mechanics itself is a functional theoretical representation for some aspects of our Universe.

As pointed out by Baez (2001) in a nontechnical introduction to recent work in quantum gravity using higher dimensional algebras, our present physical worldview is deeply schizophrenic. The two fundamental theories of the physical universe – general relativity and the Standard Model of particle physics based on quantum field theory – ignore on either side fundamental components of the other model. That is, while general relativity takes into account gravity recognizing that spacetime is curved and ignores quantum mechanics disregarding Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, the Standard Model takes into account quantum mechanics, but ignores gravity and pretends that spacetime is flat.

Bojowald (2007) asked if the Universe before the big bang was of a classical nature well described by a smooth spacetime or if it was in a highly fluctuating quantum state. Based on loop quantum gravity – thus accounting for both spacetime curvature and quantum mechanics – Bojowald applied an exactly solvable mathematical model to analyse the evolution of a cosmological quantum system and illustrated some limitations to our understanding of nature. While it is taken for granted that a bounce (volume bounded away from zero during evolution) in cosmology allows an extrapolation of all physical quantities to times before the big bang, this expectation is not realized in a solvable model of minimum computational complexity and the memory of certain aspects of the universe before the big bang is lost while transiting through it. This mathematical treatment reveals that while the system – the Universe going through the big bang – is not chaotic, any trace of some of its initial conditions is lost in time as could be expected of a quantum system. This model also offers an interesting possibility to the nature of our Universe, and that is that is one whose evolution never stops, that is, being cyclic where some traces of each cycle are irretrievably lost shortly after the transiting from collapse to expansion.

In 1935 Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen published an argument with quantum mechanics’ prediction that certain states described as quantum entangled states by Schrödinger, could have a strong correlation between distant measurements. This argument is known as the EPR paradox and can be viewed as argumentation against quantum mechanics because the impossibility of predicting the measurement other than in probabilistic terms was in their view theoretical evidence that quantum theory was incomplete and it omitted to take into account certain aspects of reality. The nature of the quantum mechanics description is however statistical, and thanks to the insight of Bell (1964) who translated the EPR paradox into an experimentally accessible inequality that has subsequently been verifiably violated experimentally, quantum mechanics received more reality evidence as pointed out by Alain Aspect (1999). One can think of an entangled photon pair as predicted by quantum mechanics to be a non-separable object that can be sent in two different directions and then each photon measured at distances of several hundred meters (or kilometers) from each other and still exhibit the same quantum state as though in some sense, both photons keep in contact through spacetime during flight.

Put within this perspective, it is almost ironic that it would be Einstein himself who argued with quantum mechanics’ prediction of entangled quantum states and somehow forgot that for which he is so well known for, spacetime. Not that any of this is easy to intuit, but those with limber minds in the field of higher-dimensional algebras, topological quantum field theories, and loop quantum gravity may soon demonstrate that there is a representation in which entangled states are just another aspect of the geometry of nature.

Statistics, Language, Cognition and Truth

The narrative of the universal quantum adventure was given a suspenseful and unexpected turn by Max Born’s statistical interpretation of Schrödinger’s wave function thus advancing our understanding of the Universe, in particular the nature of Matter. This insight was a strong hint that the Universe’s Matter is not only discrete, but exhibits collective behaviour that can be represented by the language of statistical mechanics. Statistics is the abstract representational language for collections of discreet things. A collection of silicon atoms can be made to crystallize or solidify in some less orderly state described as amorphous, and in either case it will exhibit distinct cohesive behaviour that the isolated individual atom will not. Given the quantum scale of the atom, cohesive properties themselves can be understood through quantum mechanics, as is the case for the electronic properties in silicon. In a way one could say that silicon’s semiconductor behaviour is social behaviour.

Archaeologists and linguists have gathered evidence for the emergence and evolution of symbolic culture and language and these point towards it being an example of emergent phenomena as prescribed by the nature of complex adaptive systems. It is however only recently that statistical physicists have applied their tools towards the theoretical study of language. Statistical mechanics was used to arrive at the conclusion that human-like communication systems can be captured in a clean formal calculus and did provide evidence that language emerges as social behaviour within artificial systems as done by Steels (2006). The evidence that artificial systems can handle the symbol grounding problem needed to arrive at the emergence of a human-like communication system like language does take many who have argued vehemently against this possibility by surprise. Social behaviour is not the monopoly of what we call life, much less of humans.

Language and symbolism is however the vehicle of our narrative and meaning creation. Through the use of language we can carry forward and communicate many abstract concepts and propagate what we call beliefs. According to Clouser a religious belief is any belief in something or other as divine, and divine is anything not depending on anything else. We observe, often even with much emotion, that humans have a propensity to believe almost anything against all logical or rational thought. What is certain is that belief systems create sense, and that we all believe in something or other regardless of the status of its divinity. What exactly that sense is that gets created is an issue that philosophers, anthropologists, sociologists and psychologist alike like to theorize about. Based on Gopnik’s observation of child development and subsequent postulation of a cognitive drive that puts explanation’s relationship to cognition at the level of an orgasm’s relationship to reproduction, Clément (2003) goes on to look into belief. In Clément’s words and citing Ullmann (1989) most cases of religious conversions occur against a background of emotional turmoil and instability while the converts are far more looking for peace and stability than truth. That is, from an evolutionary point of view the cognitive process aims at creating a viable solution – making sense and searching for causality – for whatever the circumstance at that moment in human spacetime is.

From this cognitive drive point of view, truth is either irrelevant or of inconsequence. Truth has however a claim to the absolute, that is, to that that does not depend on anything else. However for the organism’s fitness and survival, the pragmatic and relative is what primes over the idealistic divine truth. In short, humans will believe in anything that will give it/them a sense of immediate peace. We thus advance the possibility that to believe is the human theoretical action model or metric that sustains life. Thus religious belief is a subset of a larger set of human beliefs.

What distinguishes belief from theory is that theory never pretends to be truth; theory models observation and experience in an attempt to create an understanding of reality. Belief on the other hand often lays a claim to truth and it creates a space that can be called the breeding ground of morals. In the food chain of evolution, belief is the precursor to theory. One can say that belief is the archaic precursor to theory analogous to Newtonian mechanics being the precursor to general relativity.

The Universe or the so-called Matter is interdependent and there is no element of it that does not depend on anything else. What is not immediately obvious is that the strength of the coupling of the interdependency could be determined by a topological relationship that has yet to be illuminated. This may however pose a problem to Clouser’s definition that the divine is that which does not depend on anything else.

Like identity, belief and theory are virtual abstract constructs of the mind that exist without physical embodiment. This is, whatever permits humans to construct theory is something that is ineffable, thus not necessarily amenable to representation. Our quest is thus one for a representational reality while trying to make sense of the non-representational. In a world of information, we acquire knowledge through cognition. Knowledge is the cognitively processed information. Like theories are part of our knowledge, so is belief and evidently also all the other screens that filter our perception. Within this line of argument, perception is then both the filtered and unfiltered information that we receive.

The bridge – morphism – between belief and quantum mechanics may reside in cognition if one is to define cognition as the functional relationship between information and knowledge. Let’s consider that information and knowledge are related by a transformation of which cognition is the operator or morphism. Information is what matter and energy – Matter – contain. In other words one could consider the nature of information to be universally pervasive or ubiquitous. This is tantamount to saying that the Universe is closed system of information. Any observable or potentially observable phenomenon is emergent out of this complex adaptive system, which with some good fortune higher-dimensional algebras gives us some abstract access to. Within this ontology is it perhaps not too surprising that language itself is an emergent phenomenon in a dynamic adaptive complex system exhibiting local manifestation or expression.

Emergence, Ubification and Enkapsis

Of all things that we do question, change may be the only reality around which there is a broad consensus, change happens. If we take the view that the Universe is an information complex adaptive system containing all the aesthetics and abstractions of its self-expression, then we may easily transit to Dooyeweerd’s view of nature. In a heuristic theory of change there is besides the general adaptive cycle, also hierarchies that are formed by nested sets of such cycles at progressively larger scales. If the demonstration of the emergence of language in both human and artificial social systems is too tenuous to be considered evidence for the universality and interdependence of our Universe, it is at least a good hint that this may be an interesting approach to explore.

Reductionism and materialism, even if presently under criticism have also revealed considerable amounts of valuable information that could be archived and processed, and should not be regarded as wrong, but could benefit from being placed within an appropriate context. That appropriate context in our view is that of these being theories that have advanced our knowledge of our surroundings and Universe. The fragmentation into various disciplines was not only necessary but also valuable in order to transit to the next level of exploration. At that next level of exploration we bring it together heuristically in what we would like to call the process of ubification.

In ubification – process and thus a dynamic – that function between the various spaces relevant to whereness (spacetime) those things which during the past couple of centuries disconnected from one another with minute scholarly diligence driven by our reductionist zeal propelled by our cognitive drive to make sense, are again interconnected and find themselves to be a part of the Universe again. Through Dooyerwerd’s mind, enkapsis is the relationship that couples the combination of nested structures that are combined to create different structures of individuality.

The need for a new understanding

Calls for a rethink of our existing reductionist, referred to by Durr (2005) as materialistic-mechanistic worldview, of classical physics are progressively gathering momentum. New ways of thinking about reality and the nature of reality and the atom itself are gaining acceptance particularly as a result of the intriguing insights into the nature of reality and the atom being brought about by quantum physics. Often reductionist accounts of physics are driven by a single perspective often shaped by a physical understanding of reality. Hence the perceived difficulty amongst physicists and philosophers about the nature of the atom being either physical or wave but not both. Clouser (1991) writes so eloquently about the conflict and contradictions often found in the theories developed by the great minds of our time into the nature of reality. Table 1 summarizes the differing views of the nature of the atom propagated by such theories:

Experimental work on the duality of the atom has given rise to incoherence’s, Sikkema (2005). The interaction between an entity and its observer determines which part of the duality manifests itself, i.e. when looking for wave features the atom looks like a wave and vice versa. The recognition of the reality of the wave nature of entities is a blow to the idea of composition being fundamental to understanding reality and the atom.

Such traditional reductionist frameworks of understanding reality are often engulfed in rigid structures that allow little room if any for any sort of flexibility which is so needed particularly when considering how to deal with the apparent paradox or dual nature of the atom. Furthermore, such approaches may even hinder progress into the field of enquiry itself. Sikkema (2005) argues that the more one knows about the wave nature of a specific entity, the less one knows about its particle nature, and vice versa. At the beginning of this century Lord Rutherford and the Danish physicist Niels Bohr designed a beguilingly simple model of the atom as a miniature solar system, in which negatively charged electrons circle like planets round a positively charged nucleus. But the model ran into one paradox after another: the electrons behaved quite unlike planets: they kept jumping from one orbit into a different orbit without passing through intervening space - as if the earth were suddenly transferred into the orbit of Mars without having to travel. The orbits themselves were not linear trajectories but wide, blurred tracks, and it was meaningless to ask for instance at what point of its orbit the electron of the hydrogen atom was at any given moment of time; it was equally everywhere. In fact Heisenberg himself wrote "The very attempt", "to conjure up a picture “of elementary particles” and think of them in visual terms is wholly to misinterpret them", Burt (1967). It seems Heisenberg implicitly suggests opposition to reductionism. Philosophically, the developments of quantum mechanics were far-reaching. Like relativity, they again showed that humans could not assume that the physical laws which seem to govern a 60-kg person moving at speeds up to several hundred kilometres per hour also applied to bodies far from this regime. They also brought into question the assumption of the perfectly deterministic world proposed by Laplace. Clearly it was impossible to predict the position and velocity of every body for all future times if you could not even know these coordinates accurately at a single instant in time. This conclusion has even been used as the basis of the claim that humans have free will, that all is not predetermined as would seem to be the case in a purely mechanistic, deterministic world governed by the laws of physics. These ideas are still heavily debated today, as in a recent article by Roger Penrose in the book Quantum Implications.

Answers or even clarifications of these issues seems to be moving more and more towards philosophical accounts rather than so called scientifically oriented methods. This becomes evident when considering the double slit experiment; our observation of what is going on at the slits causes an irreversible change in the behavior of the electrons. This is usually called the "Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle." The conclusion of all this is that there is no experiment that can tell us what the electrons are doing at the slits that does not also destroy the interference pattern. Limitations of experimental work in accounting for the very nature of reality is also discussed in Clouser (1991). This is the conclusion come to by Bohr, in establishing his "principle of complementarity": the wave and particle descriptions of matter (or electromagnetic radiation) are complementary, in the sense that our experiments can test for one or the other, but never for both properties at the same time.

This paper attempts to give an intuitive account of the apparent paradoxical nature of the atom. It does so by freeing itself from the rigidity of the reductionist viewpoint of the nature of reality and working out an account of the nature of the atom based on a non reductionist philosophy advocated by Herman Dooyeweerd.

Towards a Dooyeweerdian interpretation of the atom

When discussing the nature of the atom there seems to be two sets of issues to contend with: These are:

1. Nature of the atom itself
2. Nature of the atom when interacting with a human observer

Bridging these two issues will contribute to clarifying the mystery and some of the paradoxical characteristics of the atom. To do this we will be driven by the following factors that are central to Dooyweerdian thinking and understanding:

1. Understanding reality within a Multi Aspectual framework. Here we introduce Doyyewered’s Law framework which transcends everything else including humans, atoms, etc.
2. Irreducibility, distinctiveness, and importance of the physical and wave aspects of the atom. The two aspects, namely the Physical and the Kinematic, which seem to characterise the atom are discussed.
3. The tight coupling between the two aspects as a basis for understanding the duality of the nature of the atom. Here we bring in Dooyeweerd's notion of Enkapsis and argue that the dual nature of the atom is yet another type of Enkapsis.
4. Human functioning in this Multi Aspectual framework. Here we will introduce the special place of humans in this Multi Aspectual framework and how the various functioning modes within it enable us to make sense of the atom in a non controversial way.

The Framework of Law Theory: What are Aspects?

Table 1: Dooyeweerd aspects and their kernel meaning (Dooyeweerd pages)

As well as the issue of aspects Dooyeweerd’s philosophy has other issues that can be used to guide our understanding of the atom, we list them as follows:

• Irreducibility of Aspects. The aspects are fundamentally irreducible to each other. This means that no aspect can be derived from another, and that each aspect must be given proper ‘respect’ in a situation.

• Sphere Universality. That these aspects, though irreducible, are nevertheless closely intertwined, such that in each there are echoes of each of the other.

• Dependency among aspects. The aspects form a sequence, in which the laws of an aspect depend on those of earlier aspects for their proper functioning, even though they may not be reduced to them. For example, ‘good’ social functioning depends on ‘good’ lingual functioning, which itself depends on 'good’ formative, then analytical, sensitive, biotic and physical functioning. It is the earlier aspects that have the more determinative laws while the later aspects have more normative laws.

• The notion of a qualifying aspect. That (almost) all human activities, and (almost) all entities are qualified by one aspect, even though the functioning involved in the activity is in fact multi-aspectual. It is the qualifying aspect that gives an activity or entity its primary meaning, and also provides the most useful criteria for evaluating whether the activity or entity is ‘good’ or ‘impaired’.

• The notion of enkapsis. This helps us understand the nature of entities with more precision. What we experience as an ‘entity’ is often, in fact, an enkaptic intertwinement of several distinct ‘entities’, each of which is qualified by a different aspect. Dooyeweerd’s terms for these two types of 'entity’ are, respectively ‘enkaptic structural whole’ and ‘individuality structure’. Dooyeweerd’s example is the statue of Praxiteles, which is both a physically qualified block of marble and an aesthetically qualified object of art. Enkapsis speaks of what individuality structures are necessary to the proper understanding of an enkaptic structural whole, rather than what individuality structures could be part of it in various circumstances. For example, the statue of Praxiteles is also an historical and an economic artifact, but these are secondary individuality structures.

The above is a general account of the framework of Aspects and their distinct meanings. The question is in what ways the above account relates to working out an analysis of the nature of the atom. This is what we will discuss in the remaining sections.

Aspects and the atom

A pivotal tenant of Dooyweerdian thinking is that all things including the atom function in all aspects, see Table 2.

Table 2: Aspectual functioning of atoms

However, certain aspects play what can be considered a central role in defining the behaviour and nature of those things. In Dooyeweerdian terms such an aspect is known as the Qualifying aspect. It is the qualifying aspect that allows us to distinguish one type of entity from another. It is the aspect which best capture the “Atomeness” of the atom. Basden (The Dooyeweerd Pages, 2001) and Clouser (1991) discuss the notion of qualifying aspect at some length. Whilst we share Basden’s concerns that the notion of the qualifying aspect may tend to go down the route of reductionism especially when it is considered in relation to man made artifacts it nevertheless lends itself well to natural artifacts such as the atom. The body of the literature on the nature of the atom has consistently evolved around two aspects; namely the Physical (Particle) or Kinematic (Wave). The question is which of these aspects is the qualifying aspect of the atom? Dooyeweerd talks about the notion of “Individuality Structures” which we can adapt here to talk about the atom. Individuality Structures are to do with Dooyeweerd’s theory of entities which states that real-life “wholes” (or things) involve several distinct individuality structures. Citing Dooyeweerd’s own example of Praxiteles statue of Hermes (a whole) involves at least the following two individuality structures:

• A block or marble
• Work of art

Whilst the block of marble is physically qualified, the work of art on the other hand is aesthetically qualified. Both are necessary to the being of the statue. This type of analysis can be mapped to discussing the nature of the atom. We can argue, based on the consistency of what the scientific literature reports, that the atom has two individuality structures:

• Mass
• Energy

We can identify and distinguish the individuality structures through aspectual qualification. Mass is physically qualified and energy kinematcially qualified. Therefore, it is essential for discussing the nature of the atom to consider both aspects. This may not be a new insight for physicists themselves but it certainly is an enrichment of existing philosophical debate surrounding the nature of the atom. An alternate way of discussing the nature of the atom in a non reductionist way is to adopt Clouser’s (1991) notion of qualifying aspect and what he calls “Type Laws”. Clouser describes type laws as the laws that range across aspects regulating how properties of the various aspectual types can combine thus forming things of a particular type. In the case of the atom this refers to specific and distinct combinations of certain properties of both the physical and kinematic aspects combining together in some distinct ways to form an atom.

The physical and kinematic aspects are the highest, in terms of order on the list of aspects, in which the atom’s functioning is seen as “active”. This is a term used by Clouser (1991) to distinguish active and passive functioning. The atom’ active functioning in those two aspects means that the rest of reality will experience the atom in term of those properties of those aspects. The atom’s functioning in all the other aspects is known as “passive” functioning. This implies that the atom has a meaning in those aspects when they become part of the active functioning of other entities or beings. So, for example, the atom has passive functioning in the sensory aspect because it does not have senses or does perceive the world but precisely because of this passive functioning it becomes possible for humans who function actively in the sensory aspect to observe the atom experimentally.

The above analysis demonstrates the comprehensibility of underpinning discussion of the atom in Dooyweerdian thinking. The dual, often controversial, nature of the atom can now be seen against the richness of the Law framework such that both the physical and the kinematic aspects are essential for the meaning of the atom. This type of analysis sits comfortably with a Dooyweerdian non reductionist philosophy in contrast with the intense rivalry and contradictions that characterise reductionist approaches.

Clouser’s type laws leads us into our next element of accounting for the nature of the atom and that is the nature of the combination or mapping between the physical and kinematic aspects.

Inseparability of the two aspects: Enkapsis

To simply talk about the atom only in terms of the two aspects of the physical and the kinematic without the stating how properties of the two aspects combine or map onto each other would not form a sound basis for discussing the meaning of the atom. This is evident not only through experimental work but also because it would be very difficult to find something in reality that is of purely one single aspect.

We see the meaning of the atom comes from both aspects simultaneously and not one or the other separately. However, this does not prohibit us from discussing certain properties of the atom that pertain to one of its essential aspects. This happens when physicists conduct experiments to learn about the atom. Such experiments show that the interaction between the atom and its observer is such that its wave nature manifests itself when wave-like questions are asked, and its particle nature manifests itself when particle-like questions are asked. Sikkema (2005) discusses the dual nature of the atom and points out that the more one knows about the wave nature of a specific entity, the less one knows about its particle nature, and vice versa; hence, the “complementarity” of the wave-particle duality. According to our suggested approach, i.e. the two aspectual nature of the atom, this peculiar observation should no longer be seen as a mystery or a paradox. So, what is the nature of the combination between the two aspects ? Dooyeweerd makes use of the term Enkapsis to describe such relationships. Dooyewwerd argues that we experience entities as an enkaptic intertwinement of several distinct ‘entities’, each of which is qualified by a different aspect.

'enkapsis takes place, when one structure of
individuality [i.e. an entity] restrictively binds a
second structure ... without destroying the
peculiar character of the latter.'"

Enkapsis speaks of what individuality structures are necessary to the proper understanding of an enkaptic structural whole, rather than what individuality structures could be part of it in various circumstances. Basden (1999) mentions five other different types of Enkapsis cited in Dooyeweerd (1955). These are listed in the table below:

Table 3: Types of Enkapsis (Dooyeweerd pages)

However, there is a peculiarity about the nature of the relationship or enkapsis between the two aspects we have suggested (physical and dynamic) that comprise the atom. We need to explain why the two aspects of the atom are not immediately available to an observer as with objects of experience at the macro level such as our Praxiteles statue discussed above. An observer of Praxiteles could “appreciate” both aspects of immediately and simultaneously. This unique feature of the micro-world of atoms points to at least three things. One is that we are dealing with a new type of enkapsis which we know little about and one which requires the active collaborations of philosophy and physics. Two, macro level entities, such as our statute of Praxiteles, their being is quite distinct and separate from other statutes and even other beings. This is not true of the atom. The atom as a basic building block of reality transcends all entities. As such attempts to account for the “whole” nature of the atom are really an interference with the fabric of all other entities and things. Now, we are not saying that experiments with atoms are useless but what we are saying is that whilst we may get some data about certain aspects of the atom through calculations we may never really be able to account for its whole meaning. Three, we have to be open minded about our philosophical dispositions and accept their limitations whenever the tare encountered. The duality of the atom and for that matter all other phenomenon at the sub atomic level could well point to limitations of Dooyweerdian thinking to provide intuitive explanations at this level. At this micro level entities may not be observable or perceptible with the same distinctiveness and intuitiveness as we find with macro level entities. Whilst this thesis may not be agreed by all but at least it points to the need for a more work and a better understanding of the notion of Aspects at the sub atomic level.

Conclusion

How are we to understand quantum humanism through the integrative philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd?

The topic of this paper is to underpin the dual nature of the atom in a non reductionist philosophical framework. However, more importantly, its underlying message is an invitation to those who seek truth and wish to understand reality to recognise and appreciate a richer reality than what they previously thought. If we view reality in its totality, material, spiritual or any other set of dimensions, then it is expected that for humans who are given the privilege or rather the burden of understanding it to need more than one system of knowledge or knowing. We have, based on scientific evidence, taken the view that the atom is an enkapsis of two such ways of knowing, known as Aspects. The paper is probably one of few attempts at taking Dooyeweerdian thinking out of its accustomed environment of social science into understanding the world of modern physics. As anticipated the paper revealed the need for more work in this area.

A first interaction with what seems to be the welding of two ends of a long strip of theories representing the evolution of human thought where on one end the ideas encapsulated within the formalism of higher-dimension algebra, topological quantum field theories and loop quantum mechanics that incorporate both the fundamentals of quantum mechanics and general relativity reside, and on the other end a narrative non reductionist philosophy of Modal Aspects stands awaiting critique, is a risky proposition as these two ends seem at first glance to have no common language in spite of their common goal. Both aim at making sense of our Universe.

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