Author: Ștefan Voronca ("Ortodoxia" Journal of the Romanian Patriarchate)
Keywords: Knowledge, science, research, theology, heresy
Abstract:
In premodern times any portrayal of the world was of religious nature. Even if the ancient Greeks, as well as others, had a relatively scientific understanding of the world, their vision was usually separated from religion or religious ideas and it did not have a significant influence over them. In addition, it was rarely used in real life; the only situation when the scientific approach was necessary was in some crafts or war techniques. The changing of the paradigm in scientific research occurred as a result of the changing of the religious paradigm in Western Europe, which had inauspicious consequences for the scientific perception of the world. The aim of this article is to analyse the origins of this change and the manner it occurred. The change was preceded by a few stages, which consist of rather long periods of time, starting with the Antiquity. Moreover, the longer the periods were the longer were the effects, which were also irreversible. The present study focuses especially on the crucial moments (the heresies in the West, the Scholastic Rationalism and the scientific discoveries), which are well-known historically, but, at the same time, their effects are misunderstood and twisted and often they are insufficiently known by those who pretend they enjoy the benefits these changes brought. The structure of the article is the following: 1. The seeds (the first various wanderings after Christ, which the apostle called ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως (the false knowledge/ science – profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge) (1 Timothy 6: 20); 2. The roots of modern science; 3. The foundation tree with its branches: Western Christianity, the Scholasticism, the Scientific Revolution, the Renaissance, the Modern science, the French Revolution, etc.; 4. The fruit: the Marxism and other philosophies coming out from the original tree, with all their political, cultural forms and which have nihilism as a common denominator.
Pages: 136-180