Please Hand Me that Whatchamacallit…

 

It seems that yet another brilliant British scientist is confusing science and philosophy. Stephen Hawking released a portion of his latest book called The Grand Design(probably not accidentally to be released during Pope Benedict's visit to the UK)
in which he says that "Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist." Immediately we are struck by the flaw in Dr. Hawkins logic. He says there is the law of gravity and there is nothing. Which is it? It can't be both. Secondly, he is confusing the tools in man's intellectual toolbox. Science, with its experiments and logic, tries to understand the order or structure of the universe. Religion, with its theological inspiration and reflection, tries to understand the purpose or meaning of the universe. Spontaneous creation is his explanation of how the universe came about. It cannot be the why there is something rather than nothing.

More importantly though, I think where the problem truly lies is that many have come to think that faith and science must be in conflict which each other. In his great encyclical Fides et Ratio, John Paul II said that "there can never be a true divergence between faith and reason, since the same God who reveals the mysteries and bestows the gift of faith has also placed in the human spirit the light of reason. This God could not deny himself, nor could the truth ever contradict the truth." Despite the fact that both science and faith are means to discovering truth about God's creation, their estrangement is prominently found in our culture today.

Even though revisionist's history would have us think otherwise, this division was not always present. In fact, it is certain Christian fundamental ideas that allowed the emergence of scientific thought to begin with. The study of science arose because of a belief in a transcendent Creator who endowed His creation with orderly physical laws. Scholasticism was responsible for the rejection of the pantheistic approach to nature. Created things did not have a mind of their own, but instead followed fixed physical laws. In fact, the pioneers of modern science, such as Galileo, Kepler, Harvey, and Newton thought that by pointing out the wonders of creation they would lead people to the praise of the Creator of those wonders.

Religious faith and science thrived side by side until the start of the eighteenth century. Because of the religious wars during this time, many Enlightenment intellectuals became disillusioned with Christianity. In response to this, they proposed a "religion of reason" that would replace the dogmas of faith. This co-option of science by the Enlightenment was characterized by its claims that science must be "value free". With the decline of philosophy and the rise of all the other sciences skepticism became widespread.

It is within this philosophical climate that Rene Descartes wrote his Discourse on Method. Descartes saw that science had become so successful because of the Scientific Method. He posited that the diversity of our opinions is a result not of some men being more reasonable than others, but that they conduct their thoughts along different lines and do not consider the same things. This led him to the conclusion that if differences of opinions come about because of different methods then the use of one method would solve the differences in opinions and beliefs. He thought he could define this method and ultimately refute skepticism by starting from the position of universal doubt. From this starting point he set out to prove his own existence with the famous Cogito ergo sum, the existence of God and then the existence of the world. He theorized that he could philosophize without looking to the external world. This lead to subjectivism and, in order to protect man from the approaching materialism he made a distinction between soul ("thinking thing") and body ("extended thing"). Ultimately, it is this "turn to the subject" and the resulting dualism that proved the most damaging for modern philosophy.

Descartes rationalism had wide appeal but ultimately it provoked the simplification to empiricism. David Hume, who was the leading proponent of empiricism, argued that there is no external reality at all but just internal perceptions of such realities. He rejected the traditional notion of causality and replaced it with the weaker notion of causation leaving man unable to discern "necessary connections" in nature. Immanuel Kant then finalized the divorce of faith and science when, in response to Hume's skepticism, he restricted science to phenomena and relegated religious faith to the subjective and private experience. He summarized his philosophy as "clearing away the pretensions of reason to make room for faith". With this idea that human intelligence really can't know anything, a "hermeneutic of suspicion that undermines all trust and claims one opinion is as good as another" was brought about.

It is precisely within this backdrop that John Paul II called for a sound metaphysics in Fides et Ratio. The Holy Father spoke of "the need for a philosophy of genuinely metaphysical range, capable, that is, of transcending empirical data in order to attain something absolute, ultimate and foundational in its search for truth." While the Church herself does not subscribe to any one particular philosophy, the Pope recommended that we look to Thomism as a possibility because of the tendency of Aquinas to give "pride of place to the harmony which exists between faith and reason." Rather than merely teaching on an abstract level, the Pope called upon the major players in the divorce to play prominent roles in their reconciliation. He called upon theologians to "ask what is the deep and authentic truth which the texts (of Scripture and Tradition) wish to communicate, even within the limits of language" and to convey these truths to the faithful. He challenged scientists to "continue their efforts without ever abandoning the sapiential horizon within which scientific and technological achievements are wedded to the philosophical and ethical values which are the distinctive and indelible mark of the human person." Finally, the Holy Father called on all the faithful to reject philosophical systems that lure people into believing that they are their own absolute master.

Ultimately, in coming to an understanding of the bad metaphysics of modern philosophy and striving to reunite faith and reason, man will return "to a unified and organic vision of knowledge."