Essays Upon Some Controverted QuestionsHuxley, Thomas Henry
Religion
Essays Upon Some Controverted Questions
Huxley, Thomas Henry
Science
If we turn our attention to scholastic philosophy in the frame of mind
suggested by these prefatory remarks, it assumes a very different character
from that which it bears in general estimation. No doubt it is surrounded
by a dense thicket of thorny logomachies and obscured by the dust-clouds of
a barbarous and perplexing terminology. But suppose that, undeterred by
much grime and by many scratches, the explorer has toiled through this
jungle, he comes to an open country which is amazingly like his dear native
land. The hills which he has to climb, the ravines he has to avoid, look
very much the same; there is the same infinite space above, and the same
abyss of the unknown below; the means of travelling are the same, and the
goal is the same.
That goal for the schoolmen, as for us, is the settlement of the question
how far the universe is the manifestation of a rational order; in other
words, how far logical deduction from indisputable premisses will account
for that which has happened and does happen. That was the object of
scholasticism, and, so far as I am aware, the object of modern science may
be {240} expressed in the same terms. In pursuit of this end, modern
science takes into account all the phenomena of the universe which are
brought to our knowledge by observation or by experiment. It admits that
there are two worlds to be considered, the one physical and the other
psychical; and that though there is a most intimate relation and
interconnection between the two, the bridge from one to the other has yet
to be found; that their phenomena run, not in one series, but along two
parallel lines.
To the schoolmen the duality of the universe appeared under a different
aspect. How this came about will not be intelligible unless we clearly
apprehend the fact that they did really believe in dogmatic Christianity as
it was formulated by the Roman Church. They did not give a mere dull assent
to anything the Church told them on Sundays, and ignore her teachings for
the rest of the week; but they lived and moved and had their being in that
supersensible theological world which was created, or rather grew up,
during the first four centuries of our reckoning, and which occupied their
thoughts far more than the sensible world in which their earthly lot was
cast.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account