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Mar
27
Science Isn’t Only Way to Know
March 27, 2007 |
Science Isn’t Only Way to Know, Says Cardinal
Philosophical Papers Aim to Validate Metaphysics
DUBLIN, Ireland - The extraordinary successes of science carry with them the danger of thinking that only scientific knowledge is verifiable, said Cardinal Cahal Daly.
Cardinal Daly, the retired archbishop of Armagh, is publishing a collection of articles called the “Philosophical Papers.”
The book was launched at an event over the weekend at Nazareth House in Dublin.
“The common theme linking these papers is the importance and the validity of metaphysics,” Cardinal Daly explained.
“We live, thank God, in an age of science,” the 89-year-old prelate said. But “outside of science, it is claimed, there is only irrational belief, including religion and various other kinds of superstition. One can justly use the term ’scientism’ to describe this view.
“There is in all knowing and in all reasoning a number of ‘givens,’ or ‘taken for granteds,’ such as the ‘I’ who knows and reasons, and the ‘being’ which is known and reasoned about.
“These ‘givens’ and ‘taken for granteds’ are not irrational, for they are the very stuff of reasoning and of the rational. These are the subject-matter of the reasoning which we call metaphysics.”
Meta rational
Cardinal Daly explained, “French and German philosophers have been to the fore in questioning this view. Merleau-Ponty said that the philosophical mission of the 20th century is to ‘explain the irrational’ and to ‘integrate it into an enlarged reason.’
“I reject the term ‘irrational’ and I suggest the term ‘meta rational’ as a more fitting term for what Merleau-Ponty was exploring.”
The cardinal argued, “Philosophical traditions, different ways of doing philosophy, obviously have some merit, but they carry the risk of becoming self-serving. They can become closed to other ways of doing philosophy, other insights and other influences.”
Concerned about the direction philosophy has taken, Cardinal Daly said: “There is great need for dialogue between the various national or linguistic traditions in philosophy.
“The Thomistic tradition, free of what Wittgenstein might call the cultural ‘cramps’ of modern philosophies, is now proving to be a valuable participant in contemporary philosophical dialogue.”
Courtesy Zenit.org
