Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 86

MODERN AGE

that the Christian conception of God is of
one who is supremely rational, with human
rationality a manifestation of our sharing in
the divine "image."
Western civilization has been the product
of a unique rapprochement between faith
and reason, one that faces twin challenges:
from those within Christianity who (begin-
ning with the Reformation) sought the "de-
Hellenization" of the faith, and those within
the secular world who sought to "liberate"
philosophy and science from the tutelage (and
protection) of Christian dogma. As Benedict
points out, science is itself a synthesis of
empiricism with a Platonic and Aristotelian
element of theoretical insight, a synthesis
that is also under attack by those who would
reduce science to a simple, mechanical algo-
rithm. This reduction is a particular danger
to our understanding of uniquely human
phenomena, including religion.
Caiazza describes the rise and fall of the
American pragmatist school of philosophy in
chapter 13. Many readers will be pleased to
learn about the work of C. S. Peirce, the true
genius behind the pragmatist movement.
Peirce was a pioneer in the study of math-
ematical logic and scientific thought who
eschewed the simplistic reductionism, skep-
ticism, and relativism that would become
characteristic of later pragmatic thinkers.
Peirce was a realist who drew heavily from
the work of the Scholastic philosopher John
Duns Scotus. The subsequent history of
pragmatism is one of tragic decline, from the
stylish radical empiricism of William James
to the turgid nihilism of John Dewey and
Richard Rorty.
In Part V, Caiazza examines the political
and cultural implications of the issues that
he has examined in the book's earlier parts.
In chapter  14, he describes the "magical
quality" of technology in modern society.
Modern people tend to worship science as
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FALL 2014

an occult force, much as the Pacific Island-
ers created "cargo cults" in response to the
arrival of the products of modern industry.
Caiazza examines the troubling ethical
implications of such worship, with the con-
troversy over the use of embryonic stem cells
as his example.
In chapter  15, Caiazza notes the demo-
graphical disaster that threatens the West
with a catastrophic collapse, owing to the
technological separation of sexuality from
reproduction. He argues in chapter  16
that the survival of Western monotheism
is crucial if we are to avoid a displacement
of religious zeal into the political realm (as
typified by Nazism and Communism). Tra-
ditional religion protects human dignity by
supporting an ethics of "bright lines"-of
absolute prohibitions. In the final chapter,
Caiazza argues that the "new secular state"
is doomed to failure since it cannot find
adequate intellectual foundations either in
religion or in science itself. The new state
increasingly relies on the false consciousness
of "tolerance," which is really a mask for a
new and ever more insidious intolerance.
I find fault with the book in two respects.
First, Caiazza tries to cover so much ground
that the book lacks a sharp focus. Second, the
book is heavy on the critique of reductive sci-
entism but much lighter on the development
of positive alternatives. You cannot defeat
something with nothing. The only discussion
of a positive alternative comes in the relatively
short section in which Caiazza discusses Pope
Benedict's thoughtful Regensburg address.
The section is fine, but I would have liked to
have seen more. For example, Caiazza might
have discussed the renaissance of Aristotelian
and Thomistic philosophy that has unex-
pectedly burgeoned in academic philosophy
in recent decades. I would recommend an
investigation into the distinct but related
expansion of Christian theism in American
Modern Age - Fall 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Modern Age - Fall 2014
