Science and the modern worldWhitehead, Alfred North
Religion
Science and the modern world
Whitehead, Alfred North
Science
It is important to notice that this legal impress upon medieval
civilisation was not in the form of a few wise precepts which should
permeate conduct. It was the conception of a definite articulated system
which defines the legality of the detailed structure of social organism,
and of the detailed way in which it should function. There was nothing
vague. It was not a question of admirable maxims, but of definite
procedure to put things right and to keep them there. The Middle Ages
formed one long training of the intellect of Western Europe in the sense
of order. There may have been some deficiency in respect to practice.
But the idea never for a moment lost its grip. It was preëminently an
epoch of orderly thought, rationalist through and through. The very
anarchy quickened the sense for coherent system; just as the modern
anarchy of Europe has stimulated the intellectual vision of a League of
Nations.
But for science something more is wanted than a general sense of the
order in things. It needs but a sentence to point out how the habit of
definite exact thought was implanted in the European mind by the long
dominance of scholastic logic and scholastic divinity. The habit
remained after the philosophy had been repudiated, the priceless habit
of looking for an exact point and of sticking to it when found. Galileo
owes more to Aristotle than appears on the surface of his _Dialogues_:
he owes to him his clear head and his analytic mind.
I do not think, however, that I have even yet brought out the greatest
contribution of medievalism to the formation of the scientific movement.
I mean the inexpugnable belief that every detailed occurrence can be
correlated with its antecedents in a perfectly definite manner,
exemplifying general principles. Without this belief the incredible
labours of scientists would be without hope. It is this instinctive
conviction, vividly poised before the imagination, which is the motive
power of research:—that there is a secret, a secret which can be
unveiled. How has this conviction been so vividly implanted on the
European mind?
When we compare this tone of thought in Europe with the attitude of
other civilisations when left to themselves, there seems but one source
for its origin. It must come from the medieval insistence on the
rationality of God, conceived as with the personal energy of Jehovah and
with the rationality of a Greek philosopher. Every detail was supervised
and ordered: the search into nature could only result in the vindication
of the faith in rationality. Remember that I am not talking of the
explicit beliefs of a few individuals. What I mean is the impress on the
European mind arising from the unquestioned faith of centuries. By this
I mean the instinctive tone of thought and not a mere creed of words.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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