Encyclopedia of sacred theology - pagina 158

134

§ 46.

that perception

is

FAITH

[Div. II

susceptible of verification

:

the perception

by that of the other the perception of to-day to-morrow the perception of A by that of B.

of one sense

by that of But in the

;

;

no help whatever as long as no certainty concerning a single perception. You cannot verify x by x. And on the other hand, it is an undoubted fact that, with the exception perhaps of some weak-minded philosopher, every man, without thinking of verification or applying any verification whatever, is certain everj^ moment of the day that his surroundings actually so that on the ground of this certainty are as they appear When you he acts and works without the least hesitation. sit in your room and some one comes in and addresses you, you do not consider it your first duty to verify this fact, for in that very moment you are certain that this person and you deal with stands before you and sjoeaks to you All human intercourse is this fact and act accordingly. founded on this fact, as is also all observation, and consequently all scientific knowledge, which is built up on and this fact falls away at once if faith observation does not work in you to make your ego believe in your first place, this is

faith provides

;

;

;

senses.

This

is

so true, that the

its scientific is

To

finished.

most exact science properly begins

task in the higher sense only

when observation

observe bacteria or microbes

by

is

itself as

an act of science as the perception of horses and cows The only difference between the pasturing in the meadow. two is, that horses and cows in the meadow are perceptible with the naked eye, and bacteria and microbes can be obLet no one, however, served only with the reinforced eye. be misled. The reinforcement of the eye is partly the result little

of invention,

and partly

of scientific construction.

who uses a maximum microscope not make this himself, he bought it

bacteriologist,

But the

in his labo-

and all he aged person can no longer distinguish letters with his naked eye and buys but who will assert that he performs a scientific act, glasses simply because with the aid of glasses he now reads what

ratory, did

does

is

to see

;

by means

of his microscope.

An

;

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen