From
Aristotle To Darwin And Back Again
A Journey in Final Causality, Species and Evolution
ISBN:
9781586171698
Author: Etienne Gilson
Length: 200 pages
Edition: Paperback
Code: FADBA-P
Price: $16.95
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Foreword
by Christoph Cardinal Schönborn
Darwin’s theory of evolution remains controversial, even though most scientists,
philosophers, and even theologians accept it, in some form, as an explanation
for the variety of organisms. The controversy erupts when the theory is used
to try to explain everything, including every aspect of human life, and to deny
the role of a Creator or a purpose to life.
The overreaching of many scientists into matters beyond the self-imposed limits
of scientific method is perhaps explained in part by the loss of two important
ideas in modern thinking—final causality or purpose, and formal causality.
Scientists understandably bracket the idea out of their scientific thinking
because they seek explanations on the level of material and efficient causes
only. Yet many of them wrongly conclude from their selective study of the world
that final and formal causes do not exist at all and that they have no place
in the rational study of life. Likewise, many erroneously assume that philosophy
cannot draw upon scientific findings, in light of final and formal causality,
to better understand the world and man.
The great philosopher and historian of philosophy, Étienne Gilson, sets
out to show that final causality or purposiveness and formal causality are principles
for those who think hard and carefully about the world, including the world
of biology. Gilson insists that a completely rational understanding of organisms
and biological systems requires the philosophical notion of teleology, the idea
that certain kinds of things exist and have ends or purposes the fulfillment
of which are linked to their natures—in other words, formal and final
causes. His approach relies on philosophical reflection on the facts of science,
not upon theology or an appeal to religious authorities such as the Church or
the Bible.
“The object of the present essay is not to make of final causality a scientific
notion, which it is not, but to show that it is a philosophical inevitability
and, consequently, a constant of biophilosophy, or philosophy of life. It is
not, then, a question of theology. If there is teleology in nature, the theologian
has the right to rely on this fact in order to draw from it the consequences
which, in his eyes, proceed from it concerning the existence of God. But the
existence of teleology in the universe is the object of a properly philosophical
reflection, which has no other goal than to confirm or invalidate the reality
of it. The present work will be concerned with nothing else: reason interpreting
sensible experience—does it or does it not conclude to the existence of
teleology in nature?”
—Étienne Gilson
Étienne
Gilson (1884–1978) was a renowned French philosopher and historian
of philosophy, and a member of the prestigious French Academy. He was a prominent
leader in the twentieth–century resurgence of the philosophy of St. Thomas
Aquinas. Among his books are The Unity of Philosophical Experience, The Spirit
of Medieval Philosophy, and The History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle
Ages.
“Gilson shows us that those who glibly suppose that modern biology has
refuted Aristotle’s doctrine of final causality do not properly understand
either. The reprinting of this classic will, we can hope, contribute to the
long-overdue revival of the philosophy of nature as an active field of study.”
—Edward Feser, author of The Last Superstition: A Refutation
of the New Atheism.
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