Metaphysics lives - part 4

This is the last in a 4-part series of posts based on a review* at Catholic world Report of Scholastic Metaphysics: a Contemporary Introduction by Edward Feser. 

Contemporary scientism contends that there is no such thing as metaphysics that can go beyond physics and that nothing can attain fundamentals better than modern science. Feser disputes these contentions:-

4. The successes of modern science can in no way vindicate the theory of “scientism.” Impressive technological achievement is the worst, and yet the most popular, of all the arguments for “scientism.” But it is a flat-out non sequitur. The strongest fist or prettiest face is no argument for who should be the ruler of the playground or the student body president, no matter how many people knuckle under or melt in the presence of such dazzling displays. 

It is foolish to think that the successes of modern science either prove, or even render probable, the overconfident claim that science alone can reveal to us everything that is real. Feser offers an analogous line of reasoning to expose the fallacy (thereby suitably mocking one of today’s most cherished — and dumbest — cultural prejudices): 

1. Metal detectors have had far greater success in finding coins and other metallic objects in more places than any other method has. 

2. Therefore what metal detectors reveal to us (coins and other metallic objects) is probably all that is real. 

If you have had enough of this sort of foolishness, you may look to the tradition of Scholastic metaphysics, which is a bracing alternative to today’s regnant “scientism.”

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* The reviewer is Christopher S. Morrissey, professor of philosophy at Redeemer Pacific College, Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia.

Scholastic Metaphysics: a Contemporary Introduction by Edward Feser. Editions Scholasticae, 2014, 290pp.