Grove, Stanley F. (Author)
Catholic University of America
Wallace, William A.
Edition Details: Advisor: Wallace, William A.
Physical Details: 329 pp.
Language: English
***** The Aristotelian conception of the material principle, deepened by Aquinas, is today widely misunderstood and largely alien to modern mathematical physics, despite the latter's preoccupation with matter and the spatiotemporal. The present dissertation seeks to develop a coherent understanding of matter in the Aristotelian-Thomistic sense, and to apply it to some key interpretive issues in quantum physics. I begin with a brief historical analysis of the Aristotelian, Newtonian ("classical"), and modern (quantum) approaches to physics, in order to highlight their commonality as well as their differences. Next, matter-- especially prime matter--is investigated, in an Aristotelian-Thomistic perspective, under several rationes : as principle of individuation, as principle of extension or spatiality, as principle of corruptibility, as related to essence and existence, and as ground of intelligibility. An attempt is made to order these different rationes according to primordiality. A number of topics concerning the formal structure of hylomorphic being are then addressed: elementarity, virtual presence, the "dispositions of matter," entia vialia , natural minima, atomism, the nature of local motion, the plenum and instantaneous action at a distance--all with a view to their incorporation in a unified account of formed matter at or near the elementary level. Finally I take up several interpretive problems in quantum physics which were introduced early in the dissertation, and show how the material and formal principles expounded in the central chapters can render these problems intelligible. Thus I propose that wave and particle aspects in the quantum realm are related substantially rather than accidentally, and that characteristics of substantial (prime) matter and substantial form are therefore being evidenced directly at this level--in the reversibility of the wave-particle transition, in the spatial and temporal instantaneity of quantum events, and in the probabilism encountered in such phenomena. I offer related hypotheses for Heisenberg uncertainty and for quantum nonlocality. In closing, I address some strengths and weaknesses in others' work on quantum interpretation in the light of Aristotelian principles. Three Appendices explore further aspects of matter as a cosmic principle. ***** References ***** * References (112) *****
...MoreDescription Cited in Diss. Abstr. Int. A 69/12 (2009).
Similar Citations
Book
Lutz-Bachmann, Matthias;
Fidora, Alexander;
Antolic, Pia;
(2004)
Erkenntnis und Wissenschaft: Probleme der Epistemologie in der Philosophie des Mittelalters / Knowledge and Science: Problems of Epistemology in Medieval Philosophy
(/isis/citation/CBB000641015/)
Thesis
Kent, Matthew Alexander;
(2006)
Prime Matter According to St. Thomas Aquinas
(/isis/citation/CBB001561722/)
Book
Anastopoulos, Charis;
(2008)
Particle or Wave: The Evolution of the Concept of Matter in Modern Physics
(/isis/citation/CBB000831471/)
Book
Martins, Roberto A.;
Boido, Guillermo;
Rodríguez, Victor;
(2006)
Física: Estudos Filosóficos e Históricos
(/isis/citation/CBB000820179/)
Article
José Filipe Silva;
(2015)
Potentially Human? Aquinas on Aristotle on Human Generation
(/isis/citation/CBB258413094/)
Book
Davies, Brian;
(2002)
Thomas Aquinas: Contemporary Philosophical Perspectives
(/isis/citation/CBB000302298/)
Chapter
Al-Maini, Douglas;
(2009)
The Polis Philosophers
(/isis/citation/CBB001201151/)
Chapter
Younesie, Mostafa;
(2009)
Understanding Aristotle's Politics through Form and Matter
(/isis/citation/CBB001201154/)
Book
Antonino Drago;
(2017)
Dalla storia della fisica alla scoperta dei fondamenti della scienza
(/isis/citation/CBB248791186/)
Thesis
Gluck, Stuart Murray;
(2004)
The Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics: Modal Interpretations
(/isis/citation/CBB001561996/)
Book
Epperson, Michael;
(2004)
Quantum Mechanics and the Philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead
(/isis/citation/CBB000400960/)
Article
Henderson, Leah;
(2003)
The von Neumann Entropy: A Reply to Shenker
(/isis/citation/CBB000410726/)
Chapter
Michael Stöltzner;
(2013)
Did Reichenbach Anticipate Quantum Mechanical Indeterminism?
(/isis/citation/CBB406987767/)
Article
Arageorgis, Aristidis;
Earman, John;
Ruetsche, Laura;
(2003)
Fulling Non-Uniqueness and the Unruh Effect
(/isis/citation/CBB000410824/)
Book
Pietro Greco;
(2020)
Quanti. La straordinaria storia della meccanica quantistica
(/isis/citation/CBB247197978/)
Thesis
Cale, David Lee;
(2002)
The Kantian element in the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics
(/isis/citation/CBB001562182/)
Book
Federico Laudisa;
(2023)
Dalla fisica alla filosofia naturale : Niels Bohr e la cultura scientifica del Novecento
(/isis/citation/CBB968309483/)
Thesis
Lee, Jeongmin;
(2006)
Bohr vs. Bohm: Interpreting Quantum Theory through the Philosophical Tradition
(/isis/citation/CBB001561463/)
Article
Hughes, Christopher;
(1998)
Matter and actuality in Aquinas
(/isis/citation/CBB000077772/)
Book
Thomas Aquinas, Saint;
(1998)
Aquinas on matter and form and the elements. A translation and interpretation of the De principiis naturae and the De mixtione elementorum of St. Thomas Aquinas, by Bobik, Joseph
(/isis/citation/CBB000078695/)
Be the first to comment!