Music and Measurement: On the Eidetic Principles of Harmony and Motion , traditionalist scholar Jeffrey C. Kalb Jr. presents a profound critique of how modern science uses mathematics. [ 1 ] The quote reads: "...the act of measurement by modern mathematics has already asserted itself in distorted forms, first in relativity and then in quantum mechanics. One... cannot expect to understand the contrary aspects of motion without going beyond, or better yet, getting behind and beneath symbolic calculus... to what extent the 'laws of physics' are merely the residue of anything." Kalb’s central argument claims that modern physics is caught in a trap of its own making because of how it defines "measurement." 1. The "Distorted Forms" in Relativity and Quantum Mechanics Kalb argues that classical philosophy (like Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas) understood the physical universe through real, qualitative, and metaphysical principles. However, the modern ...
The Core Conflict: Ius vs. Rights In Aquinas’s original Latin, the word ius (right) means "the right thing itself" or "that which is just" in a specific situation. It is an objective standard. For Aquinas, a ruler or a judge looks at a situation to determine the fair distribution of duties and goods. Maritain, writing in the wake of World War II, translated this into the language of modern subjective rights—possessions that belong to the individual. The critique you shared argues that by making this leap, Maritain lost Aquinas's structural foundation. Instead of deriving rights from a rigorous cosmic order, Maritain essentially adopted the modern Western political values of his time and tried to overlay a Catholic vocabulary onto them.
To understand why the author critiques Maritain so sharply, it helps to contrast his modern, rights-focused framework with St. Thomas Aquinas’s original view of natural law , which is rooted in objective order and human nature. Here is a direct comparison of how their views differ across core philosophical dimensions: Dimension St. Thomas Aquinas (Classical Natural Law) Jacques Maritain (Modern Personalist Framework) Primary Focus Objective Right ( Ius ) & Obligations . The focus is on what is objectively fair in a relationship and what a person owes to God, neighbors, and the community. Subjective Natural Rights . The focus shifts to what the individual is entitled to possess or claim against others and the state. Source of Rights The Rational Cosmic Order . Human reason discovers the natural law by reflecting on human nature, cosmic order, and God's eternal law. Human Dignity & Personalism . Rights stem from the unique, transcendent value of the human person, heavily in...