Free thought; Modernism (Christian theology) -- Catholic Church; Religion and science; Teaching, Freedom of
This, then, is the terminal at which the free-thought of subjectivism has
arrived: the loss of truth, without which man’s mind wanders restlessly
and without a goal. That is the penalty for gambling boldly with human
perception, the retribution for rebelling against the rights of truth and
for the vainglorious arrogance of the intellect, which would draw only
from its own cisterns the water of life, while alone those lying deep in
the Divine may offer him the eternal fountains of objective truth.
Scepticism is gnawing at the mental life of the world. A scepticism
cloaked with the names of criticism and research, and of positivism and
empiric knowledge, but which, nevertheless, remains what it is, an ominous
demon, liberated from the grave into which has been lowered the Christian
spiritual life, the spirit of darkness now pervading the world.
In All Directions of the Compass.
They have lost their way, puzzled by mazes and perplexed with error they
are in hopeless confusion; a correlative of individualistic thinking. If
the absolute subject and his experiences of life are the self-appointed
court of last resort, the result must be anarchy and not accord. This is
manifest; moreover, it is frankly admitted by the spokesmen of
freethought.
This anarchy is described in vivid words by Prof. _Paulsen_,
recently the indefatigable champion of freest thought: “We no
longer have a Protestant philosophy, in the sense of a standard
system. _Hegel’s_ philosophy was the last to occupy such a
position. Anarchy rules ever since. The attempted rally around the
name of _Kant_ failed to put an end to the prevalent anarchy, or
to the division into small fractions and individualisms. Then
there is the mental neurasthenia of our times, the absolute lack
of ideas, especially noticeable among so-called educated
people.... Billboard art has found a counterpart in
billboard-philosophy. Here, there, and everywhere we meet the cry:
here is the saviour, the secret ruler, the magic doctor, who cures
all ills of our diseased age.... After a while, the mob has again
dispersed and the thing is forgotten” (“Philosophia Militans”).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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