Einstein and Aquinas: A Rapprochement
Now how would things be intelligible if they did not proceed from an intelligence? In the last analy sis a Primal Intelligence must exist, which is itself Intellection and Intelligibility in pure act, and which is the first principle of intelligibility a
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EINSTEIN AND AQUINAS: A RAPPROCHEMENT
by
JOHN F. KILEY
Foreword by W. E. CARLO University
at Ottawa
MARTINUS NIJHOFF / THE HAGUE / 1969
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER:
79-95)89
© I969 by Martinus Nijhotl. The Hague. Netherlands All rights reserved. including the right to translate or to reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form ISBN-B: 978-90-24H1081-3 001: IO.I007/978-94-{)IO-3172-1
e-ISBN-B: 978-94-{)IO-3172-1
To my Father and to my Mother, who began me on my search
T ABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE
IX
INTRODUCTION
XI
FOREWORD CHAPTER
XVII
1. THE EPISTEMOLOGY OF ALBERT EINSTEIN
Section A. The Inductive Beginnings of Scientific Investigation Section B. The Formation of Primary Concepts according to Einstein. Their Invention Section C. The Deductive Process. The Rules of Naturalness and Simplicity Section D. The Epistemological Elements of the SPecial Theory of Relativity. Confirmation of the Theory CHAPTER
II.
I
I
15 25 35
A METAPHYSICAL ANALYSIS OF EINSTEIN'S VIEW OF
REALITY
Section A. The Notion of Reality in Albert Einstein Section B. The Problem of the Reality of Relations Section C. The Grasp of Reality in Mathematico-physicat Investigation
46 46 56 70
CHAPTER III. THE METAPHYSICAL FOUNDATIONS OF EINSTEIN'S EPISTEMOLOGY
78 78
Section A. The Foundations of Inductive Beginnings Section B. The Roots of the Formation of the Primary Concepts 89 Section C. Judgment and Reasoning as Related to Scientific 98 Postulation Section D. The Confirmation of the Theorems and the Nature !O3 of Scientific Proof CONCLUSIONS
107
ApPENDIX. A NOTE ON THE DISCOVERY OF BEING
IIO
BIBLIOGRAPHY
II4
INDEX
121
PREFACE Now how would things be intelligible if they did not proceed from an intelligence? In the last analysis a Primal Intelligence must exist, which is itself Intellection and Intelligibility in pure act, and which is the first principle of intelligibility and essences of things, and causes order to exist in them, as well as an infinitely complex network of regular relationships, whose fundamental mysterious unity our reason dreams of rediscovering in its own way. Such an approach to God's existence is a variant of Thomas Aquinas' fifth way. Its impact was secretly present in Einstein's famous saying: "God does not play dice," which, no doubt, used the word God in a merely figurative sense, and meant only: "nature does not result from a throw of the dice," yet the very fact implicitly postulated the existence of the divine Intellect. Jacques Maritain God's creation is the insistence on the dependence of "epistemology" on ontology; man's acknowledgement of creation is an insistence on the epistemological recovery of ontology. Paul Weiss
My intellectual debts are many and if fully listed would run on interminably. Passing over all the masters of philosophical thought who first awed and overpowered me and then led me on with gentle and great promises, more than fully kept, I would mention only those who, still among us, cannot know my gratitude unless I tell it. First to Professo
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