Musical set theory [1] is an examination of scales/harmony without giving preference to western modes. The harmonic series is a physical phenomena at the root of all musical cultural behavior, and is a completely rigorous subject.
The diatonic scale isn't derived by stacking fifths, since that would be tautological: a "fifth" is a concept taken from the diatonic scale. What you likely meant was "derivation of the diatonic scale by stacking key integer ratios between frequencies, particularly the ratio 3:2)"
That already elides the whole concept that dissonance and consonance correspond to the presence or absence of non-integer ratios between frequencies with notable energy. It also skips over the admittedly subjective way in which introducing more dissonance by way of "odd" ratios can still be perceived as musically interesting (though almost always in culturally determined ways).
Musical set theory [1] is an examination of scales/harmony without giving preference to western modes. The harmonic series is a physical phenomena at the root of all musical cultural behavior, and is a completely rigorous subject.
The diatonic scale isn't derived by stacking fifths, since that would be tautological: a "fifth" is a concept taken from the diatonic scale. What you likely meant was "derivation of the diatonic scale by stacking key integer ratios between frequencies, particularly the ratio 3:2)"
That already elides the whole concept that dissonance and consonance correspond to the presence or absence of non-integer ratios between frequencies with notable energy. It also skips over the admittedly subjective way in which introducing more dissonance by way of "odd" ratios can still be perceived as musically interesting (though almost always in culturally determined ways).
[1] this isn't pure MST, but it's a great place to start even if it is limited to 12TET tuning: https://ianring.com/musictheory/scales/