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In this ITEST webinar entitled "A New Understanding of Quantum Mechanics: Back to Aristotle and Aquinas" Dr. Robert Kurland, Kenneth Francis, and Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, OP, discuss metaphysics, epistemology, and quantum physics. (August 17, 2024)

In the order of appearance,

Sebastian Mahfood, OP, PhD, "Introduction to Aristotelian-Thomistic Metaphysics"


Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, OP, Director of ITEST, is a Lay Dominican of the Province of Saint Albert the Great. He has served as a professor of intercultural and interdisciplinary studies in theological education for over two decades. In 2021, he transitioned full-time to developing his publishing house,\xa0En Route Books and Media, LLC, and his radio station,\xa0WCAT Radio, the missions of which are to promote the Catholic spiritual journey in the provision of resources that assist in the formation of priests and laity. He lives in St. Louis with his wife, Dr. Stephanie Mahfood, and children, Alexander and Eva Ruth.


Abstract


\u201cAll men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses\u201d \u2013 so begins Aristotle\u2019s\xa0Metaphysics, less a metaphysical statement than an epistemological one, but it sets the tone for everything that follows in terms of the third level of abstraction, being qua being, since it indicates the hylomorphic nature of man as both spiritual and material. The immaterial mind learns when the body, formed by the soul, perceives through its senses an ambient reality, generating a phantasm which no longer relies on the sensory impression. One need only touch fire once, for example, to get the idea of \u201chot.\u201d Are there ways in which metaphysics can help us understand quantum mechanics? Certainly! And that is the subject of this talk.



Kenneth Francis, "God and Quantum Theory "


Kenneth Francis is a freelance journalist and Contributing Editor at New English Review. For the past 30 years, he has worked as an editor in various publications and print media, as well as a university professor in journalism. He also holds an MA in Theology and is the author of\xa0The Little Book of God, Mind, Cosmos and Truth\xa0(St Pauls Publishing);\xa0The Terror of Existence: From Ecclesiastes to Theatre of the Absurd\xa0(with Theodore Dalrymple); and\xa0Neither Trumpets Nor Violins\xa0(with Theodore Dalrymple and Samuel Hux).


Abstract


In understanding the universe, it seems that quantum theory, according to most physicists, is the final mysterious frontier of cosmic science. If so, I believe that this boundary can only be understood fully by a Mind possessing omniscience: God. The serpent in the Garden of Eden successfully conned Adam and Eve into believing they could achieve omniscience, and we all know what happened after that mother-of-all conceited errors. I often wonder did the serpent also tempt the \u2018Adam and Eve\u2019 scientists in Switzerland\u2019s \u2018Garden of CERN\u2019, with its Large Hadron Collider in search of the so-called \u2018God particle\u2019. Even Mary Shelly\u2019s novel Frankenstein was written by the shores of Lake Geneva, next door to CERN, with its potential for creating another Frankenstein\u2019s monster.\u200b



Robert Kurland, PhD, "A \u2018New\u2019 Understanding of Quantum Mechanics: Back to Aristotle and Aquinas"


Dr. Robert Kurland (a convert to Catholicism in 1995) is a retired physicist who has applied magnetic resonance to problems of biological interest in his research (web search: \u201cKurland-McGarvey Equation\u201d). He began to learn about quantum mechanics at Caltech (BS, \u201cwith honor,\u201d 1951) and Harvard (MS,1953; Ph.D.,1956) from courses taught by Richard Feynman and Julian Schwinger. In teaching quantum mechanics to students at Carnegie-Mellon University and SUNY/AB he found that mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics was an obstacle to understanding. So, in his talk he will try to explain what quantum mechanics is about using a minimum of mathematics, as he did in his book\xa0Mysteries: Quantum and Theological.


Abstract


In this talk, I\u2019ll give a brief, qualitative, pictorial explanation of quantum mechanics, from a historical perspective. Two mysteries of quantum mechanics (behavior not in accord with our everyday intuition), the wavelike nature of particles, and entanglement, will be illustrated in simple examples. I\u2019ll examine how philosophers of science have recently used two concepts,\xa0actus\xa0(actus essendi) and\xa0potentia, to explain these mysteries and put them into a context of Aristotelian/Thomistic metaphysics.