Critical Realism and the Integration of the Sciences 1
Critical Realism and the Integration of the Sciences 1
Sku: 25300A0E060
Archival Number: CD/mp3 253
Author: Lonergan, B.
Language(s): English
Decade: 1960
Description:
CD/mp3 253, first Dublin lecture on 'Critical Realism and the Integration of the Sciences.' Sponsored by William Bridgeo. The fundamental problem in the integration of the sciences arises from the fact that there has been a development in the notion of science itself. An integration requires a notion of science that admits such development, a notion that can be taken as the basis of both the Aristotelian conception and the modern conception, and so that will provide a single theory that covers both ideas and makes possible a criticism of both ideas. To provide this notion, Lonergan appeals first to the experience of insight and shows how the notion of insight can be expressed both in Aristotelian-Thomist terms and in contemporary terms. The Thomist idea of understanding in images is contrasted with the Scotist grasp of nexus between abstract concepts. The usual examples from Euclid are appealed to in order to show what insight is. The Thomist and contemporary notions of science are connected, and to understand their connection is to make possible an understanding of the integration of the sciences. The Aristotelian-Thomist approach has to develop a metaphysics simultaneously, whereas the contemporary approach does not demand this. It is the knowledge of knowledge that is the basis of the integration of the sciences. (There are some glitches in the tape from which this file was created, but the sequence of ideas is clear. This and the next two items are recordings of only part of the lectures. For a fuller but still partial transcript see 1846DT0E060.)