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On an Amendment of the Morality of a Physicist’s Professional Actions. A New Element of Inculturation of Christianity into a Scientific-Technological Civilization
Larenz, Rudolf (Wydawnictwo Towarzystwa Naukowego Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego, 2019)
Physicists are bound, by the established methods and standards of Physics, to think and act within an epistemological framework that is deeply influenced by I. Kant. The epistemological climate they find themselves in is opposed to the epistemological climate of Natural Realism and, thus, to the epistemological climate of Christian revelation, when it speaks about our world. This contrast damages the internal harmony of each physicist’s mental world to a degree that depends on his overall mindset as well as on his professional work. This situation is ongoing since the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century, so that the earlier civilization imbued with a realist and Christian spirit is superseded, by and large, by a scientific-technological civilization. The historical development of Physics has brought about the situation that the professional work of physicists produces, with its doubtless successes and contributions to progress, immediately together with its morally good object two enchained morally bad effects. The first bad effect is the co-existence, in a physicist’s mind, of two opposite epistemological climates, which damages the internal harmony of his mental world. That immediately entails a second bad effect, insofar a physicist who wants to be professionally competitive finds himself obliged to follow the methods and standards of physics as they happen to be now. In that way, he contributes to the lack of harmony in his own mental world and his grain of sand to perpetuate the spirit of those methods and standards. The situation is worse for a physicist who is a Christian and wants to do his professional work for the glory of God (cf. 1 Cor 10:31). In both cases, a physicist is denying in practice, by his professional work, what he is convinced of in theory, namely of Natural Realism and, additionally in the case of a Christian, that Christian revelation speaks of our world in the spirit of Natural Realism. All that is not unknown, but nevertheless is practically passed by in the academic discourse. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to call attention to this topic and then to suggest some ways of examining more specifically the contrast of the epistemological climates.As Physics is partly shaped by experimental interventions, its historical development is also partly contingent. This is why it is possible to achieve a better harmony of the epistemological climates of Physics and Natural Realism. The article suggests some ideas in that respect, too. If these ideas turn out to be fruitful, they would contribute to the inculturation of Christianity in our scientific-technological civilization. In other words, it would be a flanking aid for the New Evangelization.
Physics – ‘Alienation from’ Instead of ‘Orientation Towards’ the Creator?
Larenz, Rudolf (Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL, 2011)
The religious attitude of many physicists is atheist or agnostic. In the present article, it is argued that this attitude is favoured by the present shape of the natural science called Physics. The first reason is that the modern concept of nature is alienated from that of creation. The second is that, according to the dominating view, nature is epistemologically silent about itself. Additionally, the view of the axiomatic and thence hypothetical-deductive character of modern Mathematics and the conjectural character of its applications to the material world make impossible an organic connection between mathematical objects and material things. There exists only a practical knowledge of the successful use of Mathematics in Physics. This peculiar epistemological climate in Physics has become more and more alienated from the intellectual climate generated by ordinary experience and its evidence, which in turn is confirmed by Christian revelation. It is this peculiar intellectual atmosphere in which a physicist carries out his professional actions. Their moral assessment is done with the help of two distinctions: the first between the views of Physics as providing a physicalist world-view or as a field of professional activity like others. The second distinction is between the two effects of a professional action of a physicist: every such action tends to its immediate object, and every such action, by upkeeping the existing professional standards, contributes eo ipso to perpetuate the present intellectual climate in Physics. While such actions may be still morally acceptable, the situation is precarious. Therefore it is convenient to have Physics reformed from within. Such an internal reform should be experience-based and thus start from the very outset from the epistemological climate generated by ordinary experience, which is in harmony with the epistemological climate generated by Christian revelation. This reason on moral grounds is the third motive for attempting an internal reform of Physics. The first one concerns the removal of the ignorance about the link of mathematical objects to material things. It is simply due to the necessity of having a sound selfunderstanding of Physics. This in turn is closely related to the “apologetic” motive of removing the disharmony between the epistemological climates referred to above. z Surprisingly, some current views of the relationship between Theology and Physics (I. G. Barbour, M. Heller, Th. F. Torrance) do not envisage any need for an internal reform of Physics. Instead they promote an increased influence of Physics upon Theology.