Misplaced Aggression

I was thinking. . .

All the outpouring of rage and angst I have been subjected to at various points in my life concerning atomic theory, etc. etc., has been based on a grave misunderstanding both of nature and of physics. All of the objections that people have raised in the past are against some sort of Anaximanderian ‘void-motion-hard-indivisible-stuff’ theory of the universe. So, to prevent (…) any more confusion on the subject, let me lay down some postulates:

1) Act and potency are real. Aristotle was right. (you may want to copy this for future reference if I waffle)
2) Saint Thomas/Heidegger/Heisenberg are correct. Man (intellectual substance conjoined to matter/Dasein/physicist) affects the world – by being I.S.C.t.M./Dasein/physicist.
3) Einstein is correct. General relativity actually describes the large scale motions and interactions of things in the universe – both philosophically and mathematically.
4) Quantum mechanics speaks of particles analogously (self-admittedly). Quanta are analogous. A thing cannot both be a particle and a wave. (trust me, they know this)

I may think of more as they come to me. But, for now, I think that it is enough to keep these four in mind at all times when thinking about modern science and philosophy/theology. Hateful as it may seem, this is still part of the tradition. It remains to see how these four “postulates” combine to for a cohesive argument. Back to the original point, however, all these have to kept in mind when discussing atomism. This is not the atomism of Newton’s Principia, or of Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura.

But I’ve dropped enough names for one night….