Volume 89, 2015
Analyzing Catholic Philosophy
Rémi Brague
Pages 35-43
On the Need for a Philosophy of Nature and on Aquinas’s Help in Sketching One
A philosophy of nature is an urgent need if we want to avoid falling back into the Gnostic view of the world and of man’s place in it that modern science can’t help fostering. The medieval idea of the world as the creation of stable natures by a rational and benevolent God should provide us with useful guidelines. In particular, Aquinas gives us valuable hints about how our scientific knowledge of nature might help us to get a correct appreciation of our own worth.