Emerging From A Fractured World: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue Between Mechanistic Philosophy, the Bohmian Causal/Ontological Interpretation of Quantum Physics, Emergence, and Aristotelian-Thomistic Philosophy.

Following the call of David Bohm to a contemporary philosophical reflection upon our broader metaphysical worldview in light of quantum wholeness and the growing awareness of emergentism in contemporary science, this thesis argues, firstly, that the currently dominant modern mechanical atomist philosophy results from an over-extrapolation of classical physics that is becoming increasingly unfeasible in light of quantum physics and emergentism. Secondly, a neo-Aristotelian-Thomistic philosophy, with its distinct notions of causal power and formal causation, etc., can both account for the practical utility of mechanistic philosophy as well as supply a solid ontological basis for a robust account of emergent wholeness that can help us to understand the cosmos more adequately as it is increasingly being investigated and understood by science in a holistic and non-reductionistic fashion. Thirdly, the Bohmian causal/ontological interpretation of physics provides concrete evidence for the claims of emergentism that there exist irreducibly emergent phenomena in nature.