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Science Was Born of Christianity

Reasoned Discourse vs Exact Science

Jaki explained that while Newton’s laws of motion could explain quantitative data, numbers could not place meaning on that data. Therefore, reasoned discourse “stands at the beginning and at the end of quantities, embedding science within it. Exact science depends on reasoned discourse.” Stacy Trasancos, Science Was Born of Christianity: The Teaching of Fr. Stanley L. Jaki (Click link above for Stacey Trasancos’ book). Jaki took to task those who advocated Scientism by pointing out the difference between science & religion:

“One should not forget even for a moment the most fundamental rule (indeed a fact) which should govern all reasoned (indeed sane) discourse about the relation of science and religion: Quantities form one conceptual domain, and all other concepts another. Painful as this may be to incurable reductionists, the two domains are and remain irreducible to one another.” Trasancos, quoting Jaki’s book, Questions on Science and Religion (link below). 

Questions on Science and Religion

Jaki took issue with minds as great as Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr, Erwin Schrödinger, and Arthur Compton. From Trasancos’ book on Jaki (Click link above). They took a vague definition of science, like the definition of “science” by the Academic Press Dictionary of Science & Technology mentioned in a previous post,  & allowed their speculative musings to go to far from the great quantitative measures & discoveries which they are known for.

Reasoned discourse, like philosophy or theology, can stand on its own; it doesn’t need science. When science stays within its boundaries, it’s a great tool. But reasoned discourse goes astray when it claims to know something like the rate of fall of an object or whether the earth revolves around the sun or vice versa. It founds it conclusions on something that must be proven, not assumed. When scientists go beyond their boundaries and use science to sell a philosophy as absolute truth, it has done the same thing. They go from proven science to presumption, from numerical fact to unproven philosophy.

Hmm. Isn’t that like the Garden of Eden? Adam & Eve went beyond their boundary, took something that God had forbidden, all based on an assumption – that eating from the forbidden tree would make them “gods.” They brought death & confusion into the world with their act. Boundaries are fundamental to life, and violating them causes serious problems. Setting a boundary around science & theology, then learning how they interact in reasoned discourse & the importance of such is the contribution that Jaki gave us.