Physics of Biology

Concurrent Causation and the Radical Two-Sidedness of Reality

Authors: Stephen P. Smith
Comments: 5 Pages.

This paper explores the limitations of classical and computational models of causation in explaining life’s emergence and organization. Building on the work of Stuart Kauffman, Alicia Juarrero, and Montévil & Mossio, it proposes a novel framework: concurrent causation. Unlike linear or circular causation, concurrent causation suggests that parts and wholes influence each other simultaneously within a radically two-sided reality. It is proposed that bidirectional causality underlies biological homeostasis, development, and quantum processes such as time symmetry. The paper argues that acknowledging this hidden causal structure could reconcile paradoxes in biology and cosmology and necessitates a rethinking of scientific models and ontological assumptions. For example, Karl Ernst von Baer and Louis Bolk both pointed toward an evolutionary framework shaped by internal structuring principles, but these early pioneers could not justify their positions because causation was then limited to efficient causation. The present paper gives support for their views, and in fact offers a neo-vitalism with the recognition of concurrent causation.
Category: Physics of Biology