Book Description

Excerpt from The Conflict of Naturalism and Humanism Nor has naturalism developed more fraternal relations with supernaturalism than with humanism. The history of the conflict of science with religion reveals a marked divergence of attitude in these hostile camps. On one side is man's quenchless yearn ing for a supreme ideal, cramped within the binding folds of a dogmatic theology, yet still vital and eager and asserting an inalienable right to interpret the universe in consonance with its deepest emotions. Opposed to this is man's devotion to truth as revealed to rational intelligence in the facts of experience, a calm, critical spirit of analysis and synthesis, yet one capable of vast enthusiasms and loyalties. The former attitude, embodied in the great institution of the Church, constituted itself the reso lute aggressor against naturalism, until the latter, gaining strength and cogency, in turn assumed the offensive and pushed its ancient foe so shrewdly that an armed truce was the outcome. At present each pursues its goal with little strenuous opposition from the other, - the one ministering to emotional and the other to intellectual craving. Indeed it is by no means uncommon to find men who are adherents of both world-views at once, - men who, like Pierre Gassendi, rest content with a complete dualism in their philosophy and their religion. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.