RISE OF AN ANTI-RELIGIOUS SCIENCE
ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS.--As we have seen, a mechanical view of the
universe was not felt by thinkers like Descartes or Newton, or even
Hobbes, to involve any consequences that were necessarily hostile to
religion. The new science sometimes might be anti-theological, because
the current theology still seemed too much infected with Scholasticism,
but it was not, in the hands of its most notable exponents,
anti-religious. Science had no quarrel with religion as such, nor even
with a rational type of theology.
Of course the new views aroused many suspicions, and did not escape
criticism at the hands of Church authorities, both Protestant and
Catholic. And (as we have seen) some early scientists paid very dearly
for their allegiance to the spirit of scientific enquiry; but as time
went on, actual persecution became impossible, morally and practically.
But theologians were never, during the seventeenth century at least,
quite reconciled to a science and a philosophy which seemed to them to
be leading men towards areas quite uninhabitable for religion. But in
spite of suspicions on either side, and the prevalence of some measure
of intolerance, it cannot be said that relations between the scientists
or philosophers and the theologians were very seriously strained until
well on in the eighteenth century.
ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA.--That this comparatively pacific state of
affairs came to an end was the fault, primarily, at least, neither of
the theologians nor of the scientists. A different atmosphere gradually
began to envelop and to embitter the controversy. Orthodox religion,
especially in Catholic countries, came to be associated with political
reaction, and the most envenomed onslaughts began to be made upon what
seemed to be the chief stronghold of a discredited regime. Especially
was this the case in France, where corrupt political conditions were
aggravated by the intense social misery which they had created.
Thus France became the cradle of the phenomenon known as
anti-clericalism, which is the product not so much of disbelief in a
creed as of hatred of a system; it was the correlative of a Church in
which religion was extinct, for genuine Catholicism had been rooted out
of France early in the eighteenth century, just as Protestantism had
been drowned in blood a century before.[15]
SCIENCE POPULARISED.--In two respects France, during the second half of
the eighteenth century, was far in advance of other countries. No other
literature of that age can be compared with the French for the skill and
charm with which scientific views were expressed. There was no lack of
first-rate propagandists. And not only in the popularisation, but in
the systematic teaching of science, France for a long period led the
way.[16] Whereas the history of English or German literature of the
eighteenth century could be written almost without reference to science,
it is with scientific problems that the names of some of the most
brilliant French _litterateurs_ are associated. And whereas in England,
scientific men worked (in spite of the existence of the Royal Society)
more or less in isolation, in France the savants have always been a
brotherhood.[17]
VOLTAIRE.--One of the most notorious names associated with the type of
propaganda referred to is that of Voltaire (1694-1778). Voltaire's
polemic cannot be described as anti-religious, for he himself was a
theist. It was, rather, political in character. The object of his attack
was the Catholic Church as existing in France in his day, which he
regarded as the chief surviving obstacle to human progress. _Ecrasez
l'infame_ was his motto; and if this seems a trifle fanatical, let us
not forget, as an acute critic has observed, "that what Catholicism was
accomplishing in France in the first half of the eighteenth century was
not anything less momentous than the slow strangling of French
civilisation."[18]
Voltaire was an industrious and prolific writer (his works are numbered
by scores), but he was also a master of French prose, and he was
universally read. From the point of view of the history of European
thought his importance lies in his popularisation in France of the
Newtonian physics.[19] _Newtonisme_ was a word coined by him, and became
associated with a mechanical view of nature. He also conducted a
vigorous polemic against certain religious notions, then current, but
now out-of-date, and which need not here detain us. Voltaire was an
anti-clerical, but he was not hostile to religion; he was chiefly
regarded as an exponent of English (i.e. progressive) ideas.
LA METTRIE.--An advance in the materialistic direction was taken,
however, by La Mettrie (1709-1751), who approached the problem from the
side of physiology (he was a physician by profession). His two important
contributions were _Histoire naturelle de l'ame_ (1745), and _L'Homme
Machine_ (1748). The titles are sufficient to indicate the scope of
these works. That of the latter points back to Descartes, who had
applied the mechanical theory to animals only, and not to man. La
Mettrie extended his application to include man. The implications of
this theory did not escape La Mettrie's contemporaries.
DIDEROT AND HIS ENCYCLOPAEDIA.--A definite period in the history of
thought is certainly marked by the successful attempt on the part of a
group of progressive thinkers, to extend the circle open to scientific
ideas by the publication of an Encyclopaedia which should contain all the
latest knowledge and speculation. The credit for this notable
performance was due to Diderot, who in spite of immense difficulties,
which were aggravated by the ecclesiastical authorities and the
supporters of reaction in general, carried the work through to a
triumphant conclusion. The first volume appeared in 1751. The work was
composed with an eye to current prejudices; the language was guarded,
but the anti-clerical tendency of the whole was by no means obscure.
Diderot, however, did not obtrude in the Encyclopaedia the definitely
anti-religious opinions which he had developed and which are revealed in
his correspondence.
HOLBACH.--A disciple of the Encyclopaedist--Holbach, a young German
settled in Paris--was bolder than his master, and published, under the
name of a savant who had recently died, a book which became widely
notorious, and has been called the Bible of materialism--the _Systeme de
la Nature_ (1770). Like Voltaire's _Elemens_, and La Mettrie's _L'Homme
Machine_, it was published in Holland. "The book is materialism reduced
to a system. It contains no really new thoughts. Its significance lies
in the energy and indignation with which every spiritualistic and
dualistic view was run to earth on account of its injuriousness both in
practice and in theory,"[20] is the estimate of a distinguished and
impartial writer.
Rumour gave the credit of its authorship to Diderot, who was so
disturbed by the compliment as hastily to leave Paris for the frontier.
His admiration of it is, however, recorded. After proclaiming his
disgust at the contemporary fashion of "mixing up incredulity and
superstition," he observes that no such fault is to be found in the
_System of Nature_. "The author is not an atheist in one page, and a
deist in another. His philosophy is all of a piece."
Certainly to those with an appetite for negative dogmatism the work left
nothing to be desired. The following passage indicates the attitude and
method of the author, who, in the matter of style, did not fall short of
the French tradition:
"If we go back to the beginning, we shall always find that ignorance and
fear have created gods; fancy, enthusiasm or deceit has adorned or
disfigured them; weakness worships them; credulity preserves them in
life; custom regards them, and tyranny supports them in order to make
the blindness of men serve its own ends."
The philosophy of religion which inspired these sentences may appear to
us sufficiently crude. And indeed an impartial reader will have to
confess that much of this eighteenth century polemic against religion,
however well-intentioned, is singularly wide of the mark. It is all
characterised by an imperfect knowledge of the psychological foundations
of religion, and quite devoid of what is now termed the "historic
sense." The faults of Voltaire and Holbach, however, were those of their
age, which was often short-sighted in its recognition of facts, and
superficial in its reasoning from them. Even Dr. Johnson, who found this
section of contemporary French literature so distasteful, never laid his
finger upon its real weakness; the fundamental fallacies upon which it
rested escaped him. He, like Voltaire and the rest, was a child of the
age.
PROPAGANDA NOT SCIENCE.--It is very doubtful whether the genuine
scientists, who devoted themselves not to propaganda but to research,
could have been ready to sanction the uses to which their own
discoveries were put. From the exhaustive references of Lange in his
_History of Materialism_ (Engl. Trans., Vol. II, pp. 49-123), it is
evident that "the extreme views of La Mettrie, Diderot, and Holbach
cannot be fathered on any of the great scientists or philosophers, but
were an attempt to supply scientific principles to the solution of
philosophical, ethical, or religious questions, frequently for practical
and political purposes."[21]
There are certainly risks attached to the popularisation of the results
of scientific research. Theories have to be presented with an appearance
of finality which does not legitimately belong to them, and sometimes in
a somewhat startling aspect, otherwise the reader is left cold, for it
is excitement rather than genuine information that attracts the
majority. As a judicious writer has observed:
"No ideas lend themselves to such easy, but likewise to such shallow
generalisations as those of science. Once let out of the hand which uses
them in the strict and cautious manner by which alone they lead to
valuable results, they are apt to work mischief. Because the tool is so
sharp, the object to which it is applied seems to be so easily handled.
The correct use of scientific ideas is only learnt by patient training,
and should be governed by the not easily acquired habit of
self-restraint."[22]
SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS.--Alongside of this rigorous propaganda, which
prepared the way for the upheaval of 1789, genuine scientific progress
was being made, especially in the regions of Astronomy, Botany and
Chemistry. The ideas of Newton were taken up and elaborated by means of
more efficient mathematical processes--especially the theory of
infinitesimals--by the distinguished astronomer, Laplace, in his
_Systeme du Monde_ (1796), and in the successive volumes of his
_Mechanique Celeste_ (1799-1825), which has been called a new
_Principia_.
Important advances in chemistry are associated with the name of
Lavoisier (1743-1794), who introduced into that science a principle
which has become axiomatic, and which to-day remains the foundation of
all work in the laboratory. To Lavoisier belongs the merit of
introducing what is known as the "quantitative method" into chemistry,
and thus establishing that science upon the exact--that is to say
mathematical--basis, where it now rests and putting exact research in
the place of vague reasoning. His principle was that _in all chemical
combinations and reactions, the total weight of the various ingredients
remains unchanged_; there is (in spite of appearances) neither loss nor
gain of actual matter. "The quantity of matter is the same at the end as
at the beginning of every operation." It was Lavoisier who finally
established the correct theory of combustion; that it consisted in the
combination of a special element called oxygen, with other bodies or
elements.
THE ATOMIC THEORY.--Lavoisier had opened a door to researches which
naturally led the way to the establishment of the atomic theory of
matter on an experimental, and not merely a theoretical basis. That
theory is indeed nothing more than the elaboration of Lavoisier's own
principle. John Dalton (1766-1844), a Manchester quaker, published in
1810 his _New System of Chemical Philosophy_, where highly important
conclusions are drawn both from Lavoisier's facts and from experimental
results of other chemists. Of these, Dalton gave an account and an
explanation which has ever since been the soul of all chemical
reasoning. This explanation is known as his Atomic theory.
The two facts of which Dalton's theory is an explanation are as follows.
_First_ (Lavoisier's fact), that the total weight of substances remains
always the same, be they combined in ever so many different ways.
_Second_, that all substances, be they in large or in small quantities,
combine with each other, or separate from each other, in definite and
fixed proportions. The theory of Dalton was that these combinations take
place between independent particles of matter, which are indestructible
and indivisible. These "atoms" of the various elements have definite
weights which are responsible for the proportion in which they are found
to combine. These facts of proportion in combination, or "chemical
affinity," could not be accounted for by the theory which regards matter
as "continuous," but only by the opposite theory that it is "discrete"
(i.e. divided up into particles).
PHILOSOPHICAL COROLLARIES.--These strictly scientific theories
associated with the name of Laplace, Lavoisier, and Dalton tended to
strengthen in the popular estimation, the philosophical conclusions of
writers like Holbach. The scientists themselves remained "agnostic" with
regard to questions that lay outside their scope: they maintained here
the correct attitude for scientific research. The question put by
Napoleon to Laplace, why he had not introduced the name of God into the
_Mechanique Celeste_, was out of place, and deserved the crushing reply
it received. Scientific research is not concerned with questions of
philosophy.
Still, it did not escape popular attention that the old pillar of a
mechanistic view of the universe now seemed to be reinforced by another.
The theory of _the conservation of energy_ was now supplemented by that
of the _indestructibility of matter_ (Lavoisier). And to crown all, the
old atomic theory, which Lucretius had made the foundation of his
dogmatic materialism, was now re-established on an experimental basis.
So far as physical science was concerned, the situation seemed menacing
to a religious view of life. Men felt that they inhabited a world of
indestructible matter, moved by a certain measure of force, unchangeable
and fixed. The prison of determinism and matter was closing around
them.