While
waiting in a checkout line, I noticed the t-shirt of a man at the neighboring
register. Its starkly printed message
was: “The great thing about science is that it is true whether you believe it
or not.” I chuckled mildly and said aloud,
“the great thing about truth
is that it is true whether you believe it or not.” I realized that my mind had already gone
someplace the t-shirt wearer probably did not care to follow, so I grinned
affably and turned back to my cashier.
But
how common it is to conflate science with truth. That is a bridge too far, a claim that science
would not make for itself. Science is
the pursuit of accurate description and prediction. Accuracy presumes, but is distinct from,
truth. The accuracy of description is
based on observation; witness how much science has been changed by modes of
observation, such as the invention of the microscope and telescope. The accuracy of prediction what is tested by
experimentation, the fundamental work of empirical science. Science is challenged when a situation or result
is encountered that does not fit the prediction, and new theories must be proposed
and experiments undertaken. Science
changes when tools change what we are able to observe accurately, and when our
mind changes how we associate and understand our observations.
Witness,
for example, how Newtonian physics worked perfectly well, for a while. Then phenomena were observed that did not
comport with Newtonian predictions, and Einstein had to come up with his theory
of relativity to explain them. One of
the best explanations of this process by which science changes, and possibly
advances, is Thomas Kuhn’s book, The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Even if you have not read it, you probably
recognize some of the concepts it introduced, such as paradigm shift.
The
sad thing is that so many people think that the Church is opposed to science,
that faith and reason are an either-or proposition. The funny thing is that in many ways both
practical and historical, science has been dependent upon not only generic “faith”
but Christian faith and even Catholic faith in particular. For a quick experiment, look around and see
how much scientific development, not simply discovery but implementation and
expansion, occurred in non-Christian societies. Compare it to the growth and development of
the West, that is, Christian civilization.
In
his letter Fides et Ratio, Pope Saint
John Paul II pointed out: Faith and reason are like two wings on which
the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the
human heart a desire to know the truth - in a word, to know himself - so that,
by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth
about themselves.
To
give a clue as to what about the Faith makes scientific exploration and
discovery possible and even common, he ruminates: Whether we admit it or not, there comes for everyone the moment when
personal existence must be anchored to a truth recognized as final, a truth
which confers a certitude no longer open to doubt.
There
would be no purpose to exploration and experimentation if there were no truth,
no reality, and no order. There would be
no quest for understanding and explanation if we human beings were not
convinced that we possess the ability to discern and know what is authentic,
accurate, and even true. Jesus Christ is
the fullness of God’s self-revelation, in which man perceives his own nature as
well as the nature of “all things visible and invisible.” From this toe-hold, we leap to observe, to
question, to know, to understand, to describe, to predict, and thence, to bring
about desirable results, such as air travel and nuclear medicine.
Saint
john Paul goes on to reflect, One of the
most significant aspects of our current situation, it should be noted, is the
"crisis of meaning." Perspectives on life and the world, often of a
scientific temper, have so proliferated that we face an increasing
fragmentation of knowledge. This makes the search for meaning difficult and
often fruitless. Indeed, still more dramatically, in this maelstrom of data and
facts in which we live and which seem to comprise the very fabric of life, many
people wonder whether it still makes sense to ask about meaning. The array of
theories which vie to give an answer, and the different ways of viewing and of
interpreting the world of human life, serve only to aggravate this radical
doubt, which can easily lead to skepticism, indifference or to various forms of
nihilism.
The
sainted pontiff also famously believed, Jesus
Christ is the answer to every human question. Here is the remedy to skepticism,
indifference, and nihilism. The great
thing about truth is that it
is true whether you believe it or not.
Monsignor Smith
