New Ideas and Old Scholasticism

...John Cavanaugh, president emeritus of Notre Dame University, was instrumental in initiating the formation of the Amer- ican Catholic Philosophical Association, with its pro- jected Quarterly Review of Philosophy, and also prob- ably influenced the important place given neo-scholas- ticism on the program of the Sixth International Con- gress...

...During the last few years, however, conscious of its strength, it has become increasingly aggressive, eager to measure itself against other sys- tems before the whole philosophic world...

...But merely as regards philosophy the situation is simpler...

...Of still greater interest is the section summarizing the criticisms of neo-scholasticism...

...Zybura himself on Scholastic- ism and the Period of Transition...

...The criticisms are numerous and will be enumerated in the order in which Dr...

...First, scholastic philosophy was dealt a death-blow by the new thought and science of the renaissance period...

...The experience which America has gained and is gaining in her government of the Philip- pine Islands will enable her to deal more understand- ingly with her Mexican neighbor...

...Zybura's volume have successfully answered the non-scholastic criticisms...

...it must be accepted or refuted, it cannot be ignored...

...Dr...

...Neo-scholasticism wisely wished to put its own house in order before it invited the neighbors in to inspect...

...Neo-Thomists need to remember that mankind has not simply been playing the fool since I274...

...3.oo...

...More imme- diately, the foreign foe with which Mexico is now at close grips is socialism, communism...

...ceptions, cordially friendly in tone, admitting only to deplore the traditional modern indifference to scholas- ticism...

...The birth of the movement must be traced to the famous en-cyclical Aeterni Patris of Pope Leo XIII in 1879, calling the attention of the Catholic world to the value of scholasticism in general and the work of Saint Thomas Aquinas in particular, at that time neglected and ill-understood even in Catholic seminaries...

...The only alternatives are the rather sorry ones of not be- lieving what one asserts or of making no assertions at all...

...If that be true, then it means that the bottom has been reached, and soon or late an upward course may be struck slowly if untried theories hold sway and foreign disfavor is courted~rapidly if the star of a master, a builder, should illumine the dark firmament --always a possibility, if not a probability, in time of chaos...

...These criticisms are not taken up seriatim in the neo-scholastic articles, which devote themselves prim- arily for the most part to a direct exposition of the basic principles and objectives of neo-scholasticism, but they are, nevertheless, repeatedly and fully answered...

...Such a philosophy has been advanced by neo-scholasticism during the last half-century with steadily increasing success...

...Saint Thomas was, of course, limited in his knowledge of scientific facts by the conditions of his era...

...It is charged that Catholic philosophers, at least in English- speaking countries, stand aloof from their non-Catholic philosophic brethren...

...To the first criticism, indeed, Dr...

...But every situa- tion, every human condition, has within it the seeds of its own fate...

...Inde-pendent of empirical experience" seems a strange charge to bring against a movement whose first efforts were, as we have seen, directed to the mastering of the empirical experience which modern science has formu- lated...

...Here it is sufficient to observe that in a philosophical discussion the question of motivation is irrelevant: a reasonable argument is a reasonable argument whatever be the motive behind it...

...Scholasticism 'was already in a state of decline when the renaissance appeared...

...Mercier under- stood perfectly that it was no part of the Pope's in- tention or of true philosophic thinking to attempt to revive Thomism in its original form with its incrusta- tions of mediaeval science...

...God and Intelligence in Modern Philosophy, by Sheen...

...it seems independent of empirical ex- perience...

...The basis of all economic life...

...A kindred spirit appeared in December 8, t9z6 TH E C O M '"' I harmony with scienpsychology under ce...

...Fifth, the neo-scholastic method is too rationalistic...

...Precisely because (being somewhat oriental herself I) the Catholic Church is the only stabilizing influence outside the government...

...A moment's thought will make it evident that every system, nay every proposition, must, in the nature of the case, be regarded as final in those respects in which it is true...

...This questionnaire, according to the Fortnightly Review of St...

...Fourth, neo-scholastics seem to claim that theirs is a final or definitive system, and in particular they accept Saint Thomas as an authority in a sense in which a free.thinking and autonomous intellect can acknowl-edge no authority...

...The allegation that neo-scholasticism is devoid of contemporary interest is met, among others, by Moore- house Millar with his demonstration that modern con-stitutional government derives from scholastic political theory, and that it is only as democracy has drifted away from what might fairly be called its scholastic interpretation that it has become involved in its present deplorable muddle...

...All in all, there can be little question that the neo-scholastics represented in Dr...

...On the other hand, both the Pope and the young professor, who must share be-tween them the honor of founding neo-scholasticism, were inspired by the belief in the fundamental truth of Saint Thomas's metaphysics and the further faith that a thing once true is always true...

...For, as we shall see, one of the chief muses of the discredit and comparative oblivion into which scholastlc philosophy lapsed during the period of the renaissance and after, was precisely such cloistered aloofness and indifference to fresh currents of thought and to new scientific interests...

...Second, neo,scholasticism is identified with theological dogmas...

...Other noted collaborators in the Ecole were found in Professors Nys, Deploige, and De Wulf, of whom the two former brought scholasticism into relation with modern physics and sociology while the latter con-ducted monumental researches in the history of mediaeval philosophy...

...Domestic inertia, not foreign capital, is her present misfortune...

...and New Realism in the Light of Scholasticism, by Sister Mary Verda...

...It would not be the first time events had brought both nations together upon com-mon ground...

...The second criticism, that the outcome of neo-scholasticism is determined in advance by ecclesiastical authority, seems to the present writer the most im-portant of all because it extends beyond philosophy and explains the widespread distrust of Catholic sin- cerity among non-Catholics...

...but, then, governing Mexico in any circumstance would be a stupendous task...

...without free argument, there can be neither...

...These did not call for a wholesale condemnation of several centuries of speculation as being only a period of intellectual aberrations, but for a critical appraisal, a synthetic utilization, and a harmonious fusion...

...The possession of a forbidding terminology is an even stranger charge for philosophers to bring, as if the subject could be dealt with in monosyllables, or as if, in this particular case, neo-scholasticism, largely a French product, were not peculiarly notable for the clarity of its expression...

...The time would seem to be ripe 5or the emergence of a frankly dualistic philosophy...

...Polarity, action and reaction, cause and effect, are the great forces which rule, not only man's material being, but his intellect as well...

...because she has a world out- look, she wields a power which cannot and should not be ignored in any program involving the upbuilding of the people...

...Sixth, the scholastic terminology retained by neo-scholasticism is obscure and forbidding...

...Zybura deserves the thanks of all lovers of philosophy...

...The limits of "Catholic ecclesiastical authority are ill-understood by non-Catholics who often suspect it to be lurking in the background when the Catholic is actually appealing to reason alone...

...The Church would not now oppose a Ju~.rez, as she did half a century ago...

...Even if God and the soul be considered "lacking in contemporary interest," no one, it is to be presumed, would today make the same charge against democracyl The criticism that scholasticism regards itself as a final system and that it relies too much upon the authority of Saint Thomas is less serious than it looks...

...No one, understanding the futility of revolutions, could wish her such a disaster...

...There can be no excuse, henceforward, for anyone's refusing to regard neo-scholasticism purely as a phil-osophy...

...prolonged, it may make her ruin complete...

...She also is attain- ing a world outlook...

...Zybura early in I925 sent out to leading non- scholastic philosophers in America and Great Britain a questionnaire asking, in substance, for information as to the attitude of non-scholastics toward scholastic- ism, for their chief criticisms of the latter regarding both method and content, and for any suggestions that might lead to a more helpful understandLng on each side...

...NEW IDEAS AND OLD SCHOLASTICISM By ERNEST SUTHERLAND BATES D URING the last fifty years, philosophy has presented a variegated, not to say confused, spectacle...

...These replies are given in full in Present Day Thinkers and the New Scholasticism, followed by a summary under the three headings, Commendation, Counsel, Criticism...

...What had been a robust and flourishing system, full of promise for the future, was condemned to centuries of solitude, precarious vegetation, and senile decay in schools and monasteries, through the short-sightedness of mere mechanical repeaters, wrong- headed partisans, blind pedants, closeted logic-choppers, Quixotic champions of defunct physical theories...

...Replies were received from nineteen American philosophers (including Perry, Hocking, Sheldon, Rogers, Dewey, and Pratt) and fourteen in Great Britain and Canada (including A. E. Taylor, Wildon Carr, Santayana, Alexander, Muirhead, and Laird...

...t26 THE COMMONWEAL December 8, 1926 | wasted upon problems which are not fundamental...

...Zybura summarizes them...

...Louis and also Dr...

...even the most complete relativism must regard relativism itself as a final truth...

...Six important schools have appeared in the field, two idealistic (neo-Hegelianism in Eng- land and neo-idealism in Italy) three realistic (new realism, critical realism, neo-scholasticism) and one which is neither and both (pragmatism...

...Thus, prior to neo-scholasticism, Thomism and science have never actually been confronted...

...If the neo-scholastic position should prove to be logi- cally impregnable, it would matter not a whit philo- sophically whether it were in harmony with ecclesias- tical authority or even secretly dictated by that author- ity...

...Cases in point are Le N6o-R~alisme Americain, by Kremer...

...It does seem that the memory of revolution is yet too vivid for another to happen, and there is not the vitality for such an ordeal...

...Such timid or self-complacent parochialism is not only sure to lead to complete estrangement and stagnation, but it is diametrically opposed to the very nature and spirit of scholas- ticism as it existed in the period of its finest flowering...

...in these three re-spects, as well as in its rational psychology, the advent of neo-scholasticism is welcomed...

...To say that neo-scholasticism in any other sense regards itself as final, as being complete, would be again to deny repeated neo-scholastic statements...

...And yet, since this work was mainly carried on in Catholic institutions, it remained until recently without overt contact with other movements in modern phil- osophy...

...Zybura adds vigorously: This spirit of aloofness seems to indicate that some rico-scholastics have forgotten the heavy penalty paid for a like isolation in the past...

...It has established its place in philosophic history...

...Louis: B. Herder Book Company...

...then ensue contributions from ten *Present Day Thinkers and the New 8cholasticism: An In- ternational 8ymlmsium, edited and augmented by John 8. Zybura...

...Zybura devotes his special article already mentioned in which he de- velops the point of view indicated in the first of the two passages quoted above...

...There is probably no way to obviate this distrust save by sufficient intercommunication be-tween the two parties to establish an intuitive mutual understanding...

...MONWEAL xz 7 neo-scholastics (induding Jacques Maritain, Kremer, Noel, Olgiati, Millar, and Ryan) ; finally, there is an important article by Dr...

...That the latter is actually the case, however, can hardly be credited by a reader of the present volume unless he is willing to give the lie to all the distin-guished neo-scholastic authors represented...

...Duns Scotus and Ockham had turned away from its fundamental positions toward a voluntarism and nominalism utterly opposed to Thomism...

...More significant than any of these in the present connection, is Present Day Thinkers and the New Scholasticism,* edited by John S. Zybura...

...Third, neo-seholastic philoso-phy has little in common with contemporary interests...

...from the outset it was devoted to the old conception of truth as something which does not change with men's minds, but remains fixed and therefore--and only therefore--permits of growth in knowledge...

...Many of them express high admiration for the emphasis upon reason in scholastic teachings, the objectivity of their ethics, and their recognition of the importance of the individual...

...Scholasticism was not dealt a death-blow by the renaissance because the two never really encountered...

...As a result, a special chair for the study of Saint Thomas was established at the University of Louvain in 1882 and entrusted to the young professor of philosophy who later became Cardinal Mercier...

...Thus from the outset neo-scholasticism stood opposed to the relativ- ism which has been the dominant mood in modern thought, outside of philosophy as well as in it...

...Does another revolutionwstill further miserywawait this unhappy nation...

...the Its laboratodirectorship ry of experimental of Michotte soon M. Etienne Gilson at the Sorbonne, author of works on Saint Thomas and Saint Bonaventure...

...It is upon that stage Mexico is attempting to recover what she has lost to the West...

...Several pieces of well-meant advice are offered, of which one seems of considerable importance...

...Mexico's struggle with her agrarian problem is therefore the struggle which will determine her fate as a nation...

...Ac-cordingly, we find Canon Mercier, as was then his title, following courses in medicine under Charcot in Paris, then devoting himself to the study of physiology, chemistry, and mathematics, and finally securing, with the assistance of the Pope, the foundation as a part of the University of Louvain of the Ecole Saint Thomas d'Aquin in which philosophy was to be pursued in became famous for the researches conducted there...

...Today the literature of neo-scholasticism probably surpasses in extent that of any of the rival schools of contemporary philosophy...

...with the human materials at hand, as Presi-dent Calles himself must realize, the task befits a genius, if indeed it is not impossible...

...The answers of the non-scholastics are, with few ex...

...Events taking such a course, the future does not look so dark...

...the frankness of these, together with the equal frankness of the neo128 T H E C O M M O N W E A L December 8, I926 scholastic replies, constitutes the outstanding feature of the book...

...The implied censure is only just with regard to the overenthusiasm of some of the lesser among the early neo-scholastics in condemnation of whose methods.Dr...

...Less needed, perhaps, is the counsel to adopt a rea- sonable and sympathetic attitude toward modern phil- osophy...

...That is the first stage of this historic last battle...

...the beginning of all true independence is agriculture...

...The fifth and sixth criticisms are clearly due to lack of acquaintance with neo-scholastic writings...

...Chaos is Mexico's one great enemy...

...Standing committed to citizen ownership of the soil--the small property-- she may yet bend her influence in that direction, sup- porting the Indian's inclination toward the same end ll= and the Mestizo's inclination toward small industry...

...Can she do it...

...Wherever there is free argument there is philosophy and, in the long run, mutual understand- ing...

...For ample demonstration of this fact, as well as for bringing Catholics and non-Catholics to-gether in a symposium of such importance, Dr...

...The decline was not due to any intrinsic working out of the logical principles of Thomism, but to a volte-face resulting from the loss of philosophic interest and the growing concern with science and direct experience...

...Americawshe is no longer the United States---is not the "colossus" to be dreaded...

...The move-ment spread to other institutions in France, to Italy, to Germany, and to America...

...The task was to rethink scholasticism in modern terms, particularly in relation to modern science...

...its outcome is determined in advance by ec-clesiastical authority...

...Zybura is equally outspoken: That mistaken, ultra-conservative zealotry of some of the first neo-scholastics not only alienated many from the move- ment at the very outset, but it flew in the face of the letter and spirit of the encyclical, and belied the very purpose of the scholastic revival...

...It is futile to ask the non-scholastics," some of them say, "to believe that all the eminent philoso- phers from Descartes on have merely been talking puerile nonsense...

...here again one of the funda- mental efforts of the new movement being to rethink scholasticism, in technical terms, to be sure, but in modern, not mediaeval technical terms...