Physics and Metaphysics

Speedpost ahead, since I have a dental appointment.

Bérard quotes the theoretical physicist Bernard d'Espagnat, who wrote that "if we desperately need an explanation, we have to seek it in what is higher than ourselves, and that is therefore mysterious to us." 

Never heard of him.

D'Espagnat remained troubled by the scant attention most physicists paid to the interpretational questions raised by quantum mechanics (Wiki).

Welcome to the club. Of metaphysicians, or at least meta-physicists.  

Subsequently, d'Espagnat was an early interpreter of the deep philosophical significance of experimental research agendas in quantum physics.... 

[H]e encouraged physicists and philosophers to think afresh about questions long considered marginal but which today serve as the foundation for new fields of research into the nature of reality (ibid.). 

I don't think that quantum (or any other kind of) physics can serve as the literal foundation of metaphysics, because it is but an extension of metaphysics. The latter applies to being as such, which of course includes the material world. But what even is that? 

[K]nown matter is 99.99% vacuum and, according to the current standard model of particle physics, represents only 5% of the universe.... we are very far from a complete description of the universe (Bérard).

How far? This is like asking how far we are from an unknown destination. It also assumes there is a destination, in which map and territory would perfectly coincide. But it's probably an asymptotic thing, in which we are forever moving toward a goal we can never reach.

Like life itself?

Correct. Bestwecando is orient ourselves toward this telos. Indeed, it turns out that D'Espagnat "was a transcendental realist," suggesting that it "offers a new argument for the existence of God."

New? At any rate, I just ran it by Gemini, and it says that 

While it's true that atoms are mostly empty space, the concept of "vacuum" in this context is a bit misleading. Atoms are composed of a tiny, dense nucleus surrounded by a cloud of electrons. The electrons are not stationary particles but rather exist in a probability cloud, meaning they could be anywhere within that space.  

So, while there's a lot of space within an atom, the atoms themselves are packed tightly together, giving matter its solid appearance.

However,

Dark Matter (27%) is a mysterious substance that doesn't interact with light or ordinary matter but exerts gravitational force, and Dark Energy (68%) is an even more mysterious force causing the universe's accelerated expansion.

No worries though: "Scientists are actively researching these components to better understand the nature of our universe."

Well, good. But under the best of circumstances, "quantum physics reduces the corporeal object to pure quantities, eclipsing all qualities present in the world," the consciousness of the scientist being just one of them. Thus,

What is capable of being measured is minor.

In contrast to the measurer, who is the one we're really interested in. Insofar as he is concerned, 

To believe that science is enough is the most naive of superstitions. 

No matter how sophisticated the science. And

Natural laws are irreducible to explanation, like any mystery. 

They can explain how, but never touch the why. Moreover, 

Being only falsifiable, a scientific thesis is never certain but is merely current. 

But metaphysics is the opposite of current, applying to all beings at all times and in all places, now and forever. It's like the difference between journalism and wisdom, or the news and the perennials. 

Having said that,

In order to speak of the eternal, it is sufficient to speak with talent of the things of the day.

Therefore, a talented physicist can do this, for example, Max Planck:

The metaphysical real world is therefore not the starting point of scientific research, but its inaccessible goal (in Bérard).

Planck "even proposed a metaphysical solution," that "there is in matter... a conscious and intelligent Spirit. This Spirit is the principle of all Matter." 

This post has raised more questions than answers, so we'll circle back to this question of physics and metaphysics tomorrow.