June 25 - St. Thomas University: Catholic Engagement in Philosophy of Science

After travelling around a massive thunderstorm, I'm in Minneapolis for a Saint Thomas University conference, the Catholics Engagement in Philosophy of Science conference that is following on the heels of the History and Philosophy of Science Association meeting here last week. Here is the CEPOS conference website.

Below is my paper abstract.And here is the draft of the paper itself on academia.

Lonergan, Science and God: Phenomenology in Nature and Historical Faith

Jesuit philosopher and theologian Bernard Lonergan (d. 1984) advocated a critical realism, in which scientific and theological knowledge are products of self-critical phenomenological analysis. Allying his thought with Thomas Aquinas in elaborating a cognitional theory to serve epistemology and metaphysics, Lonergan challenged reigning idealist and empiricist philosophies. He expressed an understanding of the human knower as ordered to both the known world and to divine providence. This paper will sketch a few key ways in which Lonergan constructs a methodical link between phenomenology and both contemporary philosophy of science on the one hand and theology on the other hand. Like several other twentieth century Catholic thinkers, Lonergan rejected the idea of a choice between the thought of Thomas Aquinas and modern thought as regards science and religion.