Professional paper
Natural sciences and the encyclic Fides et ratio
Marijan Šunjić
Abstract
The encyclic Fides et ratio (Faith and reason) exposes systematically the viewpoint of the Catholic church and of the pope John Paul II personally on the relationship between the human cognition of the world through faith and reason, pleading for complementarity and not exclusivity of these two approaches. As their concrete realizations, theology and philosophy are examined.
Although accepting the principles of the exposed system and in them to a large extent our own insights acquired during explorations in the field of natural sciences, there are still numerous speicificities by which natural (as similarily social and humanistic) sciences are different from philosophy and should therefore be defined and elaborated in order to avoid misunderstandings and make possible a creative dialogue with philosophers and particularly theologists. Consequently, it is necessary to point out and to stimulate a debate on some questions we encounter in investigation, especially in natural sciences.
These questions are, for instance, the way how a young scientist adopts a »scientific method«, relations and interpretations of results in the language od everyday experience, questions of various utilizations of language in science and philosophy, the relationship between rational and emotional (and even belief in the possibility of cognition and existence of »truth«) in scientists, the exactness (and its degree) od natural sciences, the role of induction and deduction, i.e. the priority of facts or hypotheses, the comprehension of science as a process, and not a definitive »scientific image of the world«, i.e. a »scientific truth«, and consequently the use of the concept of »truth« in science and philosophy, as well as, ethics in science, i.e. relationship of science and scientists towards a system of values.
The analysis of these questions can surely support the basic thoughts exposed in the encyclic Fides et ratio and extend them to the field of natural sciences, and thus help the defense of possibility of cognition of »truth« against attempts of its relativization, what is at the same time one of the main theses of this encyclic.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
83269
URI
Publication date:
30.4.2007.
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