18 November 2024

The Relationship Between Science and Philosophy According to St Albert the Great

With Fr Thomas Davenport, OP, LicPhil, PhD, Professor of Philosophy at the Angelicum in Rome.


How are science and philosophy related to one another? Do scientists need philosophy to be good scientists? Do philosophers need science to do good philosophy? The answer of St. Albert the Great, patron saint of scientists and of philosophers was a qualified, but significant, yes on both accounts. This talk will argue that, despite immense and revolutionary changes in both philosophy and the natural sciences in the last 750 years, his insights on these questions are still valid today. To help in this investigation, I will draw on the work of several Dominicans who taught philosophy and science at the Angelicum when St. Albert was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1931. They have been, in turn, influential on more recent attempts to bring science and philosophy into a more respectful and fruitful dialogue, after the model of St. Albert himself.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are subject to deletion if they are not germane. I have no problem with a bit of colourful language, but blasphemy or depraved profanity will not be allowed. Attacks on the Catholic Faith will not be tolerated. Comments will be deleted that are republican (Yanks! Note the lower case 'r'!), attacks on the legitimacy of Pope Francis as the Vicar of Christ (I know he's a material heretic and a Protector of Perverts, and I definitely want him gone yesterday! However, he is Pope, and I pray for him every day.), the legitimacy of the House of Windsor or of the claims of the Elder Line of the House of France, or attacks on the legitimacy of any of the currently ruling Houses of Europe.