Elegi Menggapai "The Metaphysic of Science"

To be reviewed from many sources by Marsigit
Steven Kreis , 2001 in his Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History elaborated Giambattista Vico position in his “The New Science (1725)” some notions of the ontology and or metaphysic of science.


Accordingly, Vico, G (1725) stated that Science or metaphysic, studying the common nature of nations in the light of divine providence, discovers the origins of divine and human institutions among the gentile nations, and thereby establishes a system of he natural law of the gentes, which proceeds with the greatest equality and constancy through the three ages which the Egyptians handed down to us as the three periods through which the world has passed up to their time; these are (1) The age of the gods, in which the gentiles believed they lived under divine governments, and everything was commanded them by auspices and oracles, which are the oldest institutions in profane history. (2) The age of the heroes, in which they reigned everywhere in aristocratic commonwealths, on account of a certain superiority of nature which they held themselves to have over the plebs. (3) The age of men, in which all men recognized themselves as equal in human nature, and therefore there were established first the popular commonwealths and then the monarchies, both of which are forms of human government.
Next, Vico (1725), as cited by Kreis (2001) indicated that peoples who have reached the point of premeditated malice, when they receive this last remedy of providence and are thereby stunned and brutalized, are sensible no longer of comforts, delicacies, pleasures, and pomp, but only of the sheer necessities of life. And the few survivors in the midst of an abundance of the things necessary for life naturally become sociable and, returning to the primitive simplicity of the first world of peoples, are again religious, truthful, and faithful; thus providence brings back among them the piety, faith, and truth which are the natural foundations of justice as well as the graces and beauties of the eternal order of God.
Meanwhile, Thales (1999) in SAINTS argued that there is no reason why modern religion shouldn't incorporate the latest discoveries of Psychical Research or Metaphysics; from the time of Aristotle (300 BCE) to the time of Galileo (1600 CE), nearly 2000 years, the worldview, the background of all thought, was that of Aristotle and Ptolemy. It made a large distinction between the heavens (i.e. stars, the moon, the sun, and the planets) and earth. Earth was made of four elements, earth, air, fire, and water, and was mutable and perishable. The heavenly bodies were made of a fifth element (quintessence) which was immutable, imperishable and eternal. Thus, the correct translation of this metaphor is "realm of the imperishable," or "realm of the quintessence."
Thales said that it is not unusual for religions to begin with the mystical teachings of the founder to a small circle of disciples; as the religion develops it is not unusual for it to absorb elements from other religions over the centuries (syncretism) and to incorporate fantastic fairy tales, which may incorporate some symbolic truth (mythology). According to him, the religions who gave up worldly concerns and went off into the desert as seekers of the illumination of fire often succeeded, and when they returned to the world (or when the world came to them), they were not only holy and wise, but they also had "miraculous" powers, such as healing, or walking on water. The miracles of one age are the science of the next. The age of faith passes, and the age of spiritual science begins.
Bryan Appleyard, 1992, in “Understanding the Present: Science and the Soul of Modern Man” clarified that Western science is not simply a neutral method of acquiring knowledge but that it is ‘a metaphysic like any other.’; the foundations of this metaphysic were laid by Galileo, for his discovery was that one of the most effective ways of understanding the world ‘is to pretend that we do not exist.’ He, further indicated that it is the history of science in which he traces the development of physics from Plato and Aristotle through Thomas Aquinas to Galileo, Descartes and Newton and their modern descendants; modern science gradually emerges not as the embodiment of reason but as a form of worldly mysticism whose zeal for accumulating knowledge about the inanimate and the non-human, and whose ‘rational’ commitment to technological power and material wealth has almost completely obscured its radical anti-humanism.
However, Appleyard, B., (1992), pointed out that the contradictions between science and religion are absolutely and irresolvable conflict; he, then stated that the most obvious problem here is that Islam developed directly out of the Judaeo-Christian tradition and shares much of its world-view with Judaism – whose prophets Muslims revere. On the other hand, according to him, at the same time modern science was the almost exclusive creation of zealous Christians who were seeking not to escape their faith but to confirm and magnify it. Descartes, Newton and Robert Boyle, to name but three representative figures, all believed they had triumphantly succeeded through their science in bearing witness to the majesty and rationality of God.
Appleyard, B., (1992), explained that one reaction to the failure to escape is for us all to throw up our hands and loudly proclaim our belief in the reality and complexity of the human soul in the hope that by doing so we can triumph over science; while, the other reaction is to think more carefully, more sensitively and more systematically about the very aspects of human reality which science has traditionally neglected. He, then concluded that only if we do this is it possible that our intellectual culture may yet triumph over its own history, and over the spiritual extremism which shaped modern rationalism and bequeathed to us a contempt for the ‘human element’ whose religious origins we too readily forget.
REFERENCE
Appleyard, B., 1992, “Understanding The Present: Science And The Soul Of Modern Man”: Picador
Giambattista Vico in Kreis, S., 2001, “The New Science: Lectures On Modern European Intellectual History”, The History Guide
Iranzo, V., 1995, “ Epistemic Values In Science” : Sorites
Katz, M, 2004, “Value Science Can Change The World (And Be Changed By It)” : Cristina Lafont
Meer, J.M.V.D., 1995, “The Struggle Between Christian Theism,
Metaphysical Naturalism And Relativism: How To Proceed In Science?”, Ontarion: Pascal Centre, Redeemer College
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.,
Wilson, F.L., 1999, “Plato, Science And Human Values”, Rochester Institute Of Technology: Physics Teacher.Org