Up@dawn 2.0

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Science and Religion

     There seems to be the recurrent trend of science and religion throughout the book, which makes sense because of the book is about Plato and Aristotle. However, some of the most discussed characters are not even on the cover. All of these characters have the same thing in common. They are all Prominent Christian figures.
     The relationships between Aristotle's Metaphysics and Ethics and Plato's Republic run rampant throughout the book. I was surprised to learn that Saint Bernard's idea of being born again is a variation on Plato's Cave analogy. pg. 209 Also, the knowledge that Thomas Aquinas read Aristotle's Metaphysics and the bible simultaneously is of interest. pg. 231 This is interesting because it leads me to ponder how someone can be a "religious empiricist". I have not read Aristotle's Metaphysics nor any of Thomas Aquinas work. But through reading this book, it might be in my best interest to do so.
     This leads me to ponder, can someone both think about the world religiously and scientifically, simultaneously? Perhaps Saint Augustine understands Aristotle's ethics and metaphysics yet chose to disagree with the empiricist claims. It would be interesting to sit down with Saint Augustine and ask him some of these questions. This discussion raises several questions. Does one theory need to win out or be dominant? Or could one possibly entertain both schools of thought simultaneously? I bring this up because of the recollection of debates of having creationism and atheism taught side by side in the public school system. What would Aquinas say about this? What is the Aristotelian and Platonic perspective? There seems to be a split between creationists and atheists in society. If only there were a way to talk to ancient philosophers aside from reading their works and using our imaginations.

1 comment:

  1. Look online for Steve Allen's "Meeting of Minds"...

    I suppose it's true that "School of Athens" is missing prominent Christians. It was Athens, after all. "School of Toledo" would be differently composed, or "School of Alexandria." But has there yet been a school, a time and place, that could have represented genuine diversity across the spectrum of belief, disbelief, and agnosticism? Maybe that's still ahead.

    I'd love to speak with ancient philosophers about religion vs. science and much else, but any of them who'd not cottoned to the evolutionary hypothesis would be severely hampered in engaging our contemporary conversation.

    Anyway, Cody, you raise a great discussion question. Can religion and science be win-win? As a pragmatic pluralist, I hope so. A universe without philosophic/metaphysical diversity would be boring.

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