The Idea of a University Defined and Illustrated: In Nine Discourses Delivered to the Catholics of DublinNewman, John Henry
Religion
The Idea of a University Defined and Illustrated: In Nine Discourses Delivered to the Catholics of Dublin
Newman, John Henry
Education, Higher; Universities and colleges
physical cause, then of course we may dispute about the various external
influences which, when it changes its position, sway it to and fro, like a
scarecrow in a garden; but to assert that the motive cause _is_ physical,
this is an assumption in a case, when our question is about a matter of
fact, not about the logical consequences of an assumed premiss. And, in
like manner, if a people prays, and the wind changes, the rain ceases, the
sun shines, and the harvest is safely housed, when no one expected it, our
Professor may, if he will, consult the barometer, discourse about the
atmosphere, and throw what has happened into an equation, ingenious, even
though it be not true; but, should he proceed to rest the phenomenon, in
matter of fact, simply upon a physical cause, to the exclusion of a
divine, and to say that the given case actually belongs to his science
because other like cases do, I must tell him, _Ne sutor ultra crepidam_:
he is making his particular craft usurp and occupy the universe. This then
is the drift of my illustration. If the creature is ever setting in motion
an endless series of physical causes and effects, much more is the
Creator; and as our excluding volition from our range of ideas is a denial
of the soul, so our ignoring Divine Agency is a virtual denial of God.
Moreover, supposing man can will and act of himself in spite of physics,
to shut up this great truth, though one, is to put our whole encyclopædia
of knowledge out of joint; and supposing God can will and act of Himself
in this world which He has made, and we deny or slur it over, then we are
throwing the circle of universal science into a like, or a far worse
confusion.
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