Someone who interprets the Ascension as spiritual alone may accept that the Prophet ﷺ underwent an elevated spiritual experience. Yet the ascent of the soul and a bodily ascent are different propositions; evidence for one does not by itself settle the other.
Bi-shakhṣihi explicitly retains the bodily element. Consequently, an exclusively spiritual explanation is not treated as a complete account of this claim.
When a narration mentions a soul or a vision, its context, the speaker’s intended meaning, and its reported chronology must be examined rather than immediately used to dismiss the other reports.