Before Physics and Beyond Physics

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https://doi.org/10.54937/2026.9788056112410.65-73

Autor/ Author: Marián Janík  

In: DOKOR 2025. Recenzovaný zborník z interdisciplinárnej doktorandskej konferencie

ISBN: 978-80-561-1241-0

Strany/ Page Range: 65-73

Rok vydania/ Publication Year: 2026

Jazyk/ Language: Slovak

Vydavateľ/ Publisher: VERBUM – vydavateľstvo Katolíckej univerzity v Ružomberku

Abstrakt/ Abstract: The article aims to introduce quantum physics to beginners by embedding it in the broader context of the history of knowledge and Thomistic philosophy. It first discusses the gradual nature of individual and collective knowing, the role of tradition, and the limits of the human intellect as articulated by Thomas Aquinas. On this basis, it clarifies what science is, how theoretical knowledge is classified, and why physics is a science of “material and changing things”. It then briefly presents the hylomorphic account of nature (matter, form) and three historical stages of physics linked to the development of observational instruments. The core of the text is a survey of key experiments and ideas that led to quantum theory: energy quantization (Planck, Bohr), the photoelectric effect (Einstein), wave–particle duality (de Broglie, the double-slit experiment), the probabilistic interpretation of the wave function (Born), and the Schrödinger equation. The conclusion returns to Aquinas’s ethics and metaphysics: the ordered progression of the sciences, the claim that the human good consists in knowing the truth, and the notion of “knowledge through love”, illustrated by events from Aquinas’s final years.

Kľúčové slová/ Keywords: quantum physics, Aquinas, Thomistic philosophy, hylomorphism, history of science

Citácia/ How to cite:

JANÍK, Marián, 2026. Pred fyzikou a za fyzikou. In: DOKOR 2025. Recenzovaný zborník z interdisciplinárnej doktorandskej konferencie. Online. Ružomberok: VERBUM – vydavateľstvo Katolíckej univerzity v Ružomberku, 2026, s. 65-73. ISBN 978-80-561-1241-0. Dostupné na: https://doi.org/10.54937/2026.9788056112410.65-73

Toto dielo je publikované pod/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.