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Pope Benedict and Nature’s Genius
…It’s unlikely these bestselling atheists will listen, but the pope may have had another audience in view. Many Catholic thinkers lately have proven wary of any attempts to show that (contra the phalanx of atheists) nature does proclaim the glory of God, and even more, that the latest science unambiguously declares His presence. By and large, these Catholic thinkers steer clear of the Intelligent Design (ID) movement and are satisfied with a declaration of peace in our time: science is one thing; theology another; each may go its own happy way and keep to its own borders; science has promised not to invade theology, if theology will only keep from meddling in science.
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As he insists, the atheists’ view of reason is too small. That is why it seems to exclude the existence of God. The problem, in the pope’s words, is “the modern self-limitation of reason,” a self-limitation that amounts to self-strangulation if not properly understood. As he was careful to note, this critique “has nothing to do with putting the clock back to the time before the Enlightenment and rejecting the insights of the modern age.” Instead, he calls for a “broadening [of] our concept of reason” to “disclose its vast horizons.”
How did the constriction of reason occur? “This modern concept of reason is based, to put it briefly, on a synthesis between Platonism (Cartesianism) and empiricism, a synthesis confirmed by the success of technology.” The synthesis consisted of a double-shrinking of reason to make it more powerful. Let’s look at each element of the synthesis in turn, beginning with the empirical.
According to Benedict, the empirical or Baconian element focused on “nature’s capacity to be exploited for our purposes, and here only the possibility of verification or falsification through experimentation can yield ultimate certainty.” Francis Bacon hoped to cut through the philosophical wrangling and mystification of the natural philosophers of his day by shifting the definition of science from what nature is to what we want nature to do. Experiment was the way to “vex” the desired result from nature. Utility, therefore, pushed truth to the back burner.
…It’s unlikely these bestselling atheists will listen, but the pope may have had another audience in view. Many Catholic thinkers lately have proven wary of any attempts to show that (contra the phalanx of atheists) nature does proclaim the glory of God, and even more, that the latest science unambiguously declares His presence. By and large, these Catholic thinkers steer clear of the Intelligent Design (ID) movement and are satisfied with a declaration of peace in our time: science is one thing; theology another; each may go its own happy way and keep to its own borders; science has promised not to invade theology, if theology will only keep from meddling in science.
…
As he insists, the atheists’ view of reason is too small. That is why it seems to exclude the existence of God. The problem, in the pope’s words, is “the modern self-limitation of reason,” a self-limitation that amounts to self-strangulation if not properly understood. As he was careful to note, this critique “has nothing to do with putting the clock back to the time before the Enlightenment and rejecting the insights of the modern age.” Instead, he calls for a “broadening [of] our concept of reason” to “disclose its vast horizons.”
How did the constriction of reason occur? “This modern concept of reason is based, to put it briefly, on a synthesis between Platonism (Cartesianism) and empiricism, a synthesis confirmed by the success of technology.” The synthesis consisted of a double-shrinking of reason to make it more powerful. Let’s look at each element of the synthesis in turn, beginning with the empirical.
According to Benedict, the empirical or Baconian element focused on “nature’s capacity to be exploited for our purposes, and here only the possibility of verification or falsification through experimentation can yield ultimate certainty.” Francis Bacon hoped to cut through the philosophical wrangling and mystification of the natural philosophers of his day by shifting the definition of science from what nature is to what we want nature to do. Experiment was the way to “vex” the desired result from nature. Utility, therefore, pushed truth to the back burner.