Science and Faith. The Great Controversies. Galileo, Darwin, Einstein
By Florian Laguens
Artig, 256 pages, 18.90 euros
“Man is usually inseparable from his intellectual work.” With this conviction, Florian Laguens, scientist and philosopher, reopens the file of the conflicting relationship between science and faith. Quoting Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, he deplores this situation. ” war “ or “Instead, the conflict is between two opposing mystics. (Science and Faith, Editor's Note) To have control over the human heart. Now, if we think about it, this state of war requires a solution in a higher structure.
Nor should we expect this book to offer such a synthesis. Its path, which passes through the biographies of the four main protagonists (Galileo, Descartes, Darwin and Teilhard) and passes by great figures such as Einstein, keeps the reader in suspense more through the art of the story than through the promise of a solution, without circumventing the problem. The heart of the challenge. Ultimately, the author places himself at the crossroads of our current questions that ask whether Christianity is invalidated or not by science. The story of Galileo is re-told, freed from Epinal's images. The book begins with a happy encounter with Pierre Gassendi, a priest and astronomer, whose scientific audacity and observational brilliance are matched only by his loyalty to the Church, which says something about the seventeenth century. A few chapters later, we will find the same intention in Father Georges Lemaître, the “father” of the big bang theory.
Philosophy as a mediator
Everything gets more difficult with the central chapters. Florian Laguens gives credit to the atheist Darwin who in no way involved God in the history of animal and human evolution. But he takes the time to show that the biological evolution of man does not prevent us from believing that God gave him a soul, an objection that would not be raised until the twentieth century. He even takes the study further to show that, beyond the later theories of social Darwinism, the brilliant English naturalist’s observations on human social behavior have something metaphysical. He quotes him: We cannot withhold our sympathy. (Understand our solidarity “instinct,” editor’s note) without causing a degrading attack on the noblest part of our nature.
The chapter that follows, on Teilhard de Chardin, is more interesting and dizzying. He makes no secret of the fact that the Jesuit's thinking sometimes falls within the limits of what the faith declares, not by deviating from theology but by using terms unknown to him.
Florian Laguens ends his work by positioning philosophy as a useful mediator between faith and science; he calls for wisdom rather than synthesis to find the point of balance.
