第70章

Itcanappealtoacriterionwhichisnotsupernatural，andisasvalidforthesinnerasforthesaint。

HereisoneresultoftheOxfordindifferencetoscience。

WhenNewmanwasinvitedbyinnocentpeopletoappearasthechampionoffaithagainstscience，herefused，forthereason(amongothers)thathecouldnottellwhatwasthepositiontobeassailed。Hewouldnotdenythat’sciencegrew，butitgrewbyfitsandStarts，’andthrewouthypotheseswhich’roseandfell。’(266*)Hesupposessciencetorepresentafluctuatingsetofguesses。Evenifitappearedtocontradictrevelation，thecontradictioncouldbeevadedbyaneasydevice。ScienceandScripturecontradicteachotherastothemotionoftheearth。Wecannotdecidetillweknowwhatmotionis，andthenitmayturnoutthatscienceisfalseorreconcilabletoScripture。(267*)

ThissayingalienatedFroudeandKingsley，and，Ifancy，withgoodreason；butwecanseehowNewmancametoit。Theology，hethought，restedonadeeperfoundationthanscience。Itrepresentedasinglebodyofdeductivetruth；whilesciencerepresentedasetofdetachedconclusionsformeduponparticularfacts。

Thisappearstoreversethetruth。’Thescientificprinciple，inthefirstplace，isatissuewiththetheologynotuponthisorthatpoint，notontheconflictbetweenparticularstatements，butallalongtheline。Twodifferingconceptionsoftheuniverseareatissue，andonemustbeaccepted。Newmansubstantiallyrepliesthatsciencehasitsown——alower——sphere。(268*)IntheIdeaofaUniversityhearguesthattheologymustbeadmittedintothecourse，becauseitdealswiththerealitiesunderlyingphenomena，andisthereforetherightfulqueenofsciences。Thehistoryoftheactualrelationsofscienceandtheologywouldsupplyacuriouscommentaryuponthisopinion。Newmanmeanwhileholdsthattheconflictarisesfromascientificmisconception。

Thelatestinfideldevice，hesays，istoleavetheologyalone。

Themanofsciencetruststotheinterestofhisownpursuitstodistractthemindfromtheology，whichthenperishesbyinanition。(269*)Hiserrorconsistsinleavingthehigherstudyoutofsight，orapplyingmethodslegitimateinonespheretothoseoftheothersphere。Science，then，doesnotgivecertainty，orgivescertaintywhichhasnobearinguponthehigherordersoftruth。

Thereplyisobvious。Thephysicalsciences，inthefirstplace，giveabodyofconsistentandverifiabletruth，andtheonlysuchbodyoftruth。Inthenextplace，itisimpossibletoassignscienceandphilosophytotwodifferentprovinces。Thescientificdoctrinesmustlaydownthebasetowhichallothertruth，sofarasitisdiscoverable，mustconform。Theessentialfeatureofcontemporarythoughtwasjustthis：thatsciencewaspassingfrompurelyphysicalquestionstohistorical，ethical，andsocialproblems。Thedogmatistobjectstoprivatejudgmentorfreethoughtonthegroundthat，asitgivesnocriterion，itcannotleadtocertainty。Hisrealdangerwaspreciselythatitleadsirresistiblytocertainty。Thescientificmethodshowshowsuchcertaintyasispossiblemustbeobtained。Themanofscienceadvocatesfreeinquirypreciselybecauseitisthewaytotruth，andtheonlyway，thoughawaywhichleadsthroughmanyerrors。HistestisthatwhichsoimpressedNewmanhimself，Securusjudicatorbisterrarum；onlyorbisterrarummustnotbetranslatedoneEuropeanChurchduringafewcenturies。ThemanofsciencefullyagreeswithNewmanthatthereisatrue’illativesense’；thatmencanreasonimplicitlybeforetheycanreasoninlogicalform，andmakeapproximatelytrueformulaethoughinvolvedininnumerablesuperstitionsanderrors。Theultimatecriterionisthepowerofverifyingconclusions，oftestingtruthbyitscapacitytoexplainphenomena，andbyitsconformitytothescientifictruthalreadyestablishedbeyonddispute。Butthereisnoroyalroadtotruthinphilosophyanymorethaninscience；or，rather，itmustbefarlongerandmorediff