Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-03-18
The Story Of Civilizations

, OF many centuries in H. may be nearer
TO right and truth than VIC.
Nevertheless let us speak our pref
udice candidly and say that perhaps
these great ScholasticS were not phi
losophers at all A philosopher is a
man who follows reason, frail as 1t Is.
wherever 1t may lead him: he is
engaged in the greatest and most
dangerous adventure Of all. the attempt
10 understand the universe through
thought and knowledge alone: he must
take nothing for granted not even the
power Of reason itself; there is nothing
which he may refuse to doubt But
With The SrholaStiCs philosophy was
Amelia thc0!oCiac. thc handmade of
Theology; reason was not to be trusted,
for its corruption was part of the fall
Of man and the punishment inflicted
UPON hundreds Of genera lions because a
man and a woman had eaten an apple:
the GcGmaS Of tho cllurch, based not on
reason bat on revelation, were TO be
accepted as the starting point and the
necessary conclusions Of thought: no
book might be published unless tho
ecclesiastical imprimatur certified to the
orthodoxy of the doctrine. and the
hanGman or the stake stood in the or
ing as the last ccrtification of the truth.
On such a basis deduction was the in
cVltable method and a circular futility
the inevitable result. For thu wit and
mind Of man. if ii work upon matter,
WOrkcth according TO the stuff, and is
limited thereby: but if It work upon
itself, as tho spider w0rketh his web.
then 1t is endless and brings forth in
deed cohWebS OF Tearing. admirable for
thu fl"enCSS Of thread AMI work. but Of
no substance of profit" ,Fraac!S Dacon)
y = !
We can bear with ScholaSticiSm only
through historical perspective We sec
it as the training Of the barbarian in
tcllect III the art of thought: in sub
tlcty of logic medieval philosophy has
never been surpassed Much Of The
form Of our thinking. moSt Of the terms
which sci2nce and philosophy still use
go back TO these great minds, who. in
their helpless power. remind lis Of lions
pacing their cages reStlcSSly. with eyes
forever seeking some escape. And
though Albert and Thomas did rot
escape. their successors did or showed
the way. DuuS ScotuS weakened the
whole structure of ScholasticiSm by adj
hitting the irratlonality of dogma and
the subordination of inteilec' to will:
William Of Ocean went oack to nomi-
na!lStn, rcQuceQ theiSm ana immortal
ity to beliefs intellectually questionable
but morally desirable, and invented as
first aid for endangered thinkers the
clever doctrine of the two truths
that a doctrine might BE- true III the
o,ogv and wrong in philosophy. 50 that
The heart might hold it While the head
refused
* y y
Aristotle had been a Greek gift, like
the wooden horse to Troy; he had
brought the habit of thinking and had
undermined dogma by making men
wish to understand it. When dogma
begins TO reason it is lost This JOY in
logic was a sign of the youth of Eu
rope; soon the mind. intoxicated with
new consciousness of power, would be-
gin to put questions to these doctrines
accepted so faithfully and humbly be-
fore. Unwillingly and unwittingly, ST.
Thomas was the prelude to Bruno and
Descartes. and even a premonition of
Voltaire; these difficulties which he so
honestly expressed and SO truStingly
answered would rise again and would
not be satisfied so easily. AS one stands
on the peak of scholasticism one secs
the dawn Of the Renaissance and. far
of. the peaks of the enlightenment.