Chesterton, A Seer of Science [Hardcover]

Stanley L. Jaki (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 164 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press; First edition (November 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252012836
• ISBN-13: 978-0252012839
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,851,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The theologian and physicist tackles the prince of paradox, September 9, 2006

By 

Jean-Francois Virey (59500 DOUAI France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chesterton, A Seer of Science (Hardcover)

Several of Stanley Jaki's books follow a two-part plan : part one could be summarized into "nobody gets it" and part two into "I do." In the present case, part one is limited to the first chapter, a quick survey of the inability of Jaki's predecessors to see the importance of Chesterton's views on science, scattered as they are throughout his copious writings, let alone to deal with them in more than a few sentences. The need for the present volume being justified, Jaki then proceeds to deal with Chesterton's philosophy of science in the remaining three chapters.

Chapter two, "Antagonist of Scientism", shows us the Catholic champion battling the late nineteenth century apostles of the reduction of all knowledge to science and of all progress to scientific and technological advances : Herbert Spencer, Ernst Haeckel and H. G. Wells. Jaki admits from the start that "in no branch of [science] did [Chesterton] have a systematic training", which is probably why the present book calls him a "seer" of science, as this suggests an rather intuitive approach to the issue. Anyway, it is never the science itself that Chesterton claims to be a judge of, but the various philosophies that are pawned to the general public in its name. Moreover, he did read "all Huxley and Spencer and everything else on the subject [of popular science] available in English", which made him more than an inspired dilettante. Indeed, he had quite fascinating (and quite quotable) reflections on the subject, writing for instance in the early 1920s that "Science was supposed to bully us into being rationalists : but it is now supposed to be bullying us into being irrationalists", an observation still very much to the point today.

Chapter three, "Critic of Evolutionism", has Chesterton confront "that miscegenation of good science and very bad philosophy which is Darwinism." Contrary to Biblical literalists of the Protestant variety (mostly), Chesterton had no difficulty with the long chronologies involved in evolution theory, or with the details of the process. He was most concerned apparently with the ontological and ethical implications of "that evolutionary appearance whereby all species melt into each other", and with what might become of the malleable, manipulable man of the evolutionist creed. Here again, his insights are brilliant : "Evolution does not specially deny the existence of God ; what it does deny is the existence of man." Readers who are particularly interested in what Jaki has to say about evolution will find much here, the other sources being : "Genesis 1 Through the Ages" (which I have already reviewed); his booklets on "Intelligent Design" and "Evolution for Beginners"; "Angels, Apes and Men" chapter 2 ; "Cosmos and Creator" ch. 4 ; "The Road of Science and the Ways to God" ch. 18 ; and "The Relevance of Physics" ch. 7.

The last chapter, chapter four, presents Chesterton as a "champion of the universe", a concept which Jaki defines as "the totality of consistently interacting things" (hence his objection to the concept of "other universes" as "a contradiction in terms".) Here I had the definite impression that Chesterton was making humourous and intuitive remarks about various subjects, while Jaki was talking about something else entirely and trying to inject his well though-out metaphysics into Chesterton's witticisms. This does not mean this part of the book was uninteresting, but I fear Jaki may have tried too hard to make Chesterton into his own image.

My main problem with the book is that it does not appear to exhaust Chesterton's sayings on science, which is all the more embarrassing as Jaki claims there are not so many of them, and he is always blaming other authors for missing what he only has taken notice of. Now having read absolutely nothing by Chesterton, I am no expert on the subject. But after watching a few episodes of the excellent documentary series produced by EWTN and the Chesterton Society, I can definitely remember a few statements on science which Jaki has not bothered to include : discussions on the nature of miracles, for instance ; a statement on science being either "a tool or a toy"; or a very interesting debate with a skeptic in the duel scene from "Ball and Chain"- all of which would have been relevant.

Despite these limits, Jaki's booklet remains an interesting read, especially for those readers who are just as interested in the author as in his subject.