The Authority of the Science vs. the Authority of the Church

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The Authority of Science Vs. The Authority

of The Church

The period of history which is commonly called "modern" has a mental outlook which differs from that of the medieval period in many ways. Of these, two are the most important: the diminishing authority of the Church, and the increasing authority of science„ The authority of science, which is recognized by most philosophers of the modem epoch, is a very different thing from the authority of the Church, since it is intellectual, not governmental. No penalties fall upon those who reject it no prudential arguments influence those who accept it. It prevails solely by its intrinsic appeal to reason. It is, moreover, a piecemeal and partial authority; it does not, like the body of Catholic dogma, lay down a complete system, covering human morality, human hopes, and the past and future history of the universe. It pronounces only on whatever, at the time, appears to have been scientifically ascertained, which is a small island in an ocean of nescience. There is yet another difference from ecclesiastical authority, which declares its pronouncements to be absolutely certain and eternally unalterable: the pronouncements of science are made tentatively, on a basis of probability, and are regarded as liable to modification. This produces a temper of mind very different from that of the medieval dogmatist.

科学的权威与教会的权威

（许国璋译）

吾人所谓“现代”，其思想观点，实大异于中古。其中，主要区别有二，一曰教会之权威日衰，二曰科学之权威日增。„科学的权威，已为近世多数哲学家所承认。此一权威，殊不同于教会的权威。科学权威，理智的力量也。人于科学权威，可以拒绝，可以接受。拒绝，无须受惩罚。接受，无须出于保身家保名誉 3 之考虑。科学所以有权威，唯一原因，是科学有内在的足以令人折服的力量。再者，科学的权威，明一理有一理之权威，明二理有二理之权威。科学的权威，止于已明之理：不若天主教义，乃包罗万象之体系，道德准则，人生理想，甚至世界之过去与未来，无一不在此体系之内。科学如有所见，仅以此时此物已有科学实证者为限。知识，海洋也；科学之所知，一小岛耳。科学的权威，尚有一点不同于教会的权威。教会每有宣示，必曰此千真万确，万事不移。科学作出的判断，曰此是暂时的结论，此有盖然性，科学的结论可加以修正，此是科学家共有的见解。科学家之思想，截然不同于中古时期固执教义之士，盖在于此。

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