For learning the foundational principles of stat mech, yes, you can start that way. For example, you can certainly come up with definitions of pressure and temperature for an ideal gas or calculate the heat capacity of an Einstein solid without any quantum considerations. But once you start asking questions about real systems, the quantization is hugely important for e.g. understanding the form of the partition function.
For learning the foundational principles of stat mech, yes, you can start that way. For example, you can certainly come up with definitions of pressure and temperature for an ideal gas or calculate the heat capacity of an Einstein solid without any quantum considerations. But once you start asking questions about real systems, the quantization is hugely important for e.g. understanding the form of the partition function.