David Bohm verges on Two-Tier Reality in physics and metaphysics
Foreword
In the latter part of his distinguished career as physicist and science writer, David Bohm (1917 - 1992) was Professor of Theoretical Physics at Birkbeck College, University of London. Unlike most scientists, he was deeply interested in the philosophical implications of modern physics. Of his many publications, "Wholeness and the Implicate Order" is probably the most important for lay readers. The book summarises (introduction and first chapter) his far-reaching ideas in this field, ideas which challenge the complacent orthodoxy of both philosophy and science.
The commentary covers only the Introduction and Chapter 1 of the book.
For those interested in the related scientific and philosophical topics of relativity and relativism, here is a short extract from Bertrand Russel's "ABC of Relativity" (George Allen & Unwin, 3rd edition, 1968):
Before Copernicus, people thought that the earth stood still and the heavens revolved about it once a day. Copernicus taught that 'really' the earth rotates once a day, and the daily revolution of sun and stars is only 'apparent'. Galileo and Newton endorsed this view, and many things were thought to prove it - for example, the flattening of the earth at the poles, and the fact that bodies are heavier there than at the equator. But in the modern theory, the question between Copernicus and his predecessors is merely one of convenience; all motion is relative, and there is no difference between the two statments: 'the earth rotates once a day' and 'the heavens revolve around the earth once a day'. The two mean exactly the same thing, just as it means the same thing if I say that a certain length is six feet or two yards. Astronomy is easier if we take the sun as fixed than if we take the earth, just as accounts are easier in decimal coinage. But to say more for Copernicus is to assume absolute motion, which is a fiction. All motion is relative, and it is a mere convention to take one body as at rest. All such conventions are equally legitimate, though not all are equally convenient.
Also, you might want to visit The Table, which does David Bohm dialogue on-line.