The Multiverse and Participatory Metaphysics

The Multiverse and Participatory Metaphysics: A Theological Exploration is Jamie Boulding’s first book. His first major contribution is both theoretically significant and interesting. In the current discussion of the multiverse among scholars of religion, and particularly those invested in science and theology discussion, the most common interactions are critical, either reading multiverse theory as an attack on divine design, as metaphysically and scientifically extravagant and unnecessarily complex, or as simply absurd (16–17). While there have been some positive theological assessments of multiverse theory, none have drawn significantly on participatory metaphysics to explore in depth the relationship between classical theistic metaphysics and multiverse thought.

Participatory metaphysics is a classical approach to caching out the fundamental structure of reality, and particularly to understanding the relationship between unity and diversity. For instance, how can one property, such as whiteness, apply to many white things such as white houses, white cars, etc.? More fundamentally, how can one thing, such as existence, apply to the great diversity of things that actually exist in reality? At the most fundamental level for one thing to participate in another is for the participating object to receive some element of its essential or accidental nature—or in contemporary terms some essential or accidental property—from the object in which it participates. Thinkers who fit into the category of participatory metaphysics cache out participation in different ways just as thinkers who fit into the category of multiverse theorists cache out the multiverse in different ways. Boulding sets himself the seemingly humble task of illustrating that “a participatory account of God and creation argues for greater continuity between theology and the multiverse” (1).

To do so, Boulding summarizes the thought of three significant participatory thinkers in Greek and Christian thought: Plato, Thomas Aquinas, and Nicholas of Cusa. Each figure is given his own relatively self-contained chapter in which Boulding first summarizes this individual’s understanding of participatory metaphysics, then interacts with three significant multiverse theorists from the perspective of the thinker’s version of participatory metaphysics, and finally summarizes his conclusions. Boulding’s interaction with multiverse theory is structured around Max Tegmark’s four level multiverse theory. Tegmark’s four levels emphasize the diverse nature of any possible multiverse and raise questions about the nature of multiplicity and infinity. Boulding takes each of the participatory thinkers he draws on and emphasizes one of these elements (diversity, multiplicity, and infinity) in that thinker’s understanding of participation. Because of this, it is particularly well suited to addressing the concepts of multiplicity, diversity, and infinity within the context of relationality. Further, while participatory thinkers operate within a common overarching framework, their thought within that framework is diverse. This also allows it to have both interesting and informative interactions with multiverse theory.

Boulding draws on Plato’s theory of participation, and specifically his attention to the problem of the one and the many, to illustrate ways that participatory metaphysics can be used to engage the themes of radical multiplicity and complexity in multiverse theory (40). He engages Mary-Jane Rubenstein, Max Tegmark, and Verity Harte in order to show the ways that Plato’s cosmology makes contact with work on multiplicity, mathematics, and mereology in multiverse theory. In his discussion of Aquinas, Boulding focuses on diversity and unity. He argues that Aquinas sees “diversity to be an integral characteristic of the cosmos” that is created by and dependent upon God (82). On Boulding’s reading of Aquinas, diversity is part and parcel of the unity of the cosmos. This is the case so that the diversity of limited beings can adequately represent the unity of an infinite creator.

Boulding then connects Aquinas’s view of participation to concepts of diversity, beauty, and unity in multiverse theory. Finally, Boulding develops Nicholas’s view of the relationship between divine infinity and the finitude of created beings (132). He draws both on Nicholas’s illustration of participatory metaphysics as a created unfolding of all that is enfolded in God’s infinite being and on Nicholas’s use of mathematics as a mystical and devotional tool to interact with concepts of infinity and interrelation in multiverse theory and to deepen Tegmark’s use of mathematics in multiverse theory.

One potential concern is that Boulding does little to address the historical gap between these thinkers. Their views are clearly explained, but generally taken at face value without attempting to examine how cultural shifts may have impacted the social imaginary that gives context to their theories. While Plato, Aquinas, and Nicholas of Cusa are all participatory thinkers, they do not share identical understandings of the metaphysics of participation and Boulding could do more to highlight the differences between their views of participation and how these differences might impact interactions with multiverse theory. Lastly, Boulding’s thesis is limited to the attempt to show that participatory metaphysics and multiverse theory have sufficient points of contact to have meaningful discussion with one another and the book is—at 196 pages—short. Because he attempts to address twelve thinkers (three participatory thinkers and nine multiverse thinkers) the space given to explaining any particular view is necessarily restricted. This is not necessarily a problem with the book, but understanding the limited scope of Boulding’s intent will help the reader to understand why he does not delve deeper into many of the ideas that he introduces.

The brief plug and play format is both a strength and a weakness of the book. It is a strength because it: 1) illustrates the diversity of participatory metaphysics and thus the diversity of potential interactions between participatory metaphysics and multiverse theory; and 2) allows readers to pick up one chapter or, in some cases, even one section of one chapter that is of particular interest without reading the entire book. It is a weakness because it necessarily leaves each interaction abbreviated. Each of these chapters could be expanded into its own book. However, Boulding’s analyses are both clear and insightful. This leaves the reader with an appetite for more and the hope that this will, in the long run, be the first volume in a series of books on the relationship between participatory metaphysics and multiverse theory. In the end, Boulding effectively proves his thesis – participatory metaphysics and multiverse theory have much to discuss and there is room for fruitful interaction between these two fields of thought.

K. Lauriston Smith is an adjunct instructor at Grand Canyon University.

Kyle L. Smith

Date Of Review:

August 7, 2023