Has Science Refuted Aristotelian Causality? (#AskBishopBarron)

[billybagbom]

"Every time you exercise your mind... you're dealing with final causality." Here is a priest who gets it. Unlike many of his detractors, who insist on sawing off the branch they're sitting on.

[AnaRoseKateriPlumleecatholic]

We use your videos quite a bit during my theology classes. It helps makes things easier to understand, even for this theology major. Thank you for your ministry. 

[billybagbom]

What Father Barron seems to be saying here is very akin to what St. Paul said in last Sunday's epistle reading: "So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you, Paul or Apollos or Cephas [or Plato or Aristotle or Wittgenstein], or the world or life or death, or the present or the future: all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God" (1 Corinthinians 3:21-23).

[hexagondun]

Wonderful video, Father. Perhaps, in the future, you might consider the question of whether symbolic logic has supplanted Aristotelian logic for those of us laymen who aren't able to delve too far into Veatch...

[lissaunderwater]

Love that we are not beholden to any particular philosopher. And the ultimate test is the logos of Christ. Brilliant.

[Joateig]

Father, thank you for your wonderful videos.
I just wondered, doesn't the Church in some way bind itself to a philosophical system, when that system becomes such an integral part of her theology, say in the case of transubstantiation?

God bless you, and greetings from Norway

[allenmaurer]

I would have liked to see a special mention of the role of Scholasticism in understanding the way a great deal of Catholic theology has been and continues to be expressed, but sound advice nonetheless. 

[billybagbom]

What Father Barron says here is clearly manifest from the earliest days of the apostolic Christian faith. St. Paul quotes pagan poets and Hebrew prophets to proclaim the Word of God, Jesus the Messiah. Thank you again, Father Barron, for your wonderful analysis and summation.

[bargainking]

Final causality is sometimes in discussed in evolutionary biology too

[michaelvictorong]

I am a big fan of yours Fr. Barron! The Catholicism series and the book, which I read enthusiastically, brought to bear the dynamic fullness of the faith. I also watched a lot of your youtube videos. It is my hope that your ministry prosper even further. I particularly love how intelligently you explain various aspects of our Christian faith. I wish we have a ministry like yours here in the Philippines - an intelligent explication of the faith...ultimately of the God...against the currents that deny Him.

[FrankEnanoza]

Barron is too smart! I mean that in a complementary way. Haha!

[trinidadraj]

Wow! Very well said! Very good advice! Don't lock yourself into one mode. test it all

[rhlogic]

"Use whatever philosophy works for you" yep, that makes perfect sense. At the end of the day is what everyone does,

[cristianfcao]

So final causality can be seen in "post modern science... quantum kind of stuff". Have you asked a quantum physicist about this Fr. Barron? 

[andonedave]

This came up in the recent William Lane Craig, Sean Carroll debate. Dr. Carroll seemed to dismiss the causal principle.

[fabricepoirette]

Good Morning father,

Thank you, once again for your commendable work.

There is a film "God is not dead" which about to be release in the United State.

Have you heard of it? What is your tale on it (as a catholic and as a priest).

May God bless you.

Fabrice from France.

[alexsolis]

Me gustaría ver este tipo de videos con subtitulos en español... los subtitulos en ingles son pesimos en vez de Hume puso human.

[realismandpolicy]

Test philosophies against "the measure which is Christ?" Was it John Scottus Eringina who said that we should trust reason (presumably to include science) over scripture (to include our scriptural understanding of Christ)? After all, scripture is transcribed and translated by fallible humans and the text might be corrupt, while God cannot be unreasonable (and, presumably, it would be blasphemy to call him unreasonable).

[BeingItself]

I saw Sean Carroll discuss this recently. Humans have purposes, and humans are part of the universe, so there are final causes in the universe. But at the most fundamental levels of physics, there is nothing like final causality. To try and shoehorn final causality onto an electron is just as silly as Aristotle saying things fall down because they seek their natural place.

[thomaspelletier]

Im an Aquinas Man myself. Though Fulton.j.sheens speech speech on natural law wasn't unenjoyable.