A phenomenon is always found placed between two other phenomena1, one of which is its efficient, and the other its final cause; [p514] and science has not done with that phenomenon as long as either of these relations remains2 undeveloped.
The human mind generally begins, I think, with the discovery of final causes, because they are more immediately interesting to us. No species of knowledge, besides, leads us with more force towards religious ideas, or is more fitted to make us feel in all the fibres of our heart a lively sense of gratitude4 for the inexhaustible goodness of God.
Habit, it is true, has so familiarized us with a great number of these providential intentions, that we enjoy them without thought. We see, and we hear, without thinking of the ingenious mechanism5 of the eye and of the ear. The sun, the dew, the rain, lavish6 upon us their useful effects, or their gentle sensations, without awakening7 our surprise or our gratitude. This is solely8 owing to the continued action upon us of these admirable phenomena. For let a final cause, although comparatively insignificant9, come to be disclosed to us for the first time, let the botanist10 explain to us why this plant affects such or such a form, or why that other is clothed in such or such a colour, we immediately feel in our heart the unspeakable enchantment11 with which new proofs of the power, the goodness, and the wisdom of God never fail to penetrate12 us.
The region of final intentions, then, is for man’s imagination as an atmosphere impregnated with religious ideas.
But after we have perceived, or had a glimpse of the phenomenon in this aspect, we have still to study it in another relation, that is to say, to seek for its efficient cause. [p515]
It is strange, but it sometimes happens, that after having obtained the full knowledge of that cause, we find that it carries with it so necessarily the effect which we had admired at first, that we refuse to recognise in it longer the character of a final cause; and we say: “I was very simple to believe that God had provided such an arrangement with such a design; I see now that the cause which I have discovered being given (and it is inevitable), this arrangement must follow necessarily, apart from any pretended providential intention.”
It is thus that defective13 and superficial science, with its scalpel and its analyses, comes sometimes to destroy in our souls the religious sentiment to which the simple aspect of nature had given rise.
This is the case frequently with the anatomist and the astronomer14. What a strange thing it is, exclaims the ignorant man, that when an extraneous15 substance penetrates16 into a tissue, where its presence does great injury, an inflammation and a suppuration take place, which tend to expel it! No, says the anatomist, there is nothing intentional17 in that expulsion. It is a necessary effect of the suppuration; and the suppuration itself is a necessary effect of the presence of an extraneous substance in our tissues. If you wish it, I shall explain to you the mechanism, and you will acknowledge yourself that the effect follows the cause, but that the cause has not been arranged intentionally18 to produce that effect, since it is itself the necessary effect of an anterior19 cause.
How I admire, says the ignorant man, the foresight20 of God, who has willed that the rain should not descend21 on the soil in a sheet, but should fall in drops, as if it came from the gardener’s watering-pot! Were it not so, vegetation would be impossible. You throw away your admiration22, answers the learned naturalist23; the cloud is not a sheet of water; if it were, it could not be supported by the atmosphere. It is a collection of microscopic24 vesicles, or minute bladders like soap-bubbles. When their density25 increases, or when they burst by compression, these thousands of millions of infinitesimal drops fall, growing larger in their descent by the vapour of the water which they precipitate26, etc. If vegetation is benefited in consequence, it is by accident; but we must not think that the Creator amuses himself in sending us down water through the sieve27 of a monster watering-pot.
Ignorance, we must confess, very often imparts a certain plausibility28 to science, when the connexion of causes and effects is regarded in this way, by attributing a phenomenon to a final intention which does not exist, and which is dissipated before the light of superior knowledge. [p516]
Thus, in former days, before men had any knowledge of electricity, they were frightened by the noise of thunder, being able to recognise in that astounding29 voice, bellowing30 amid the storm, nothing less than a manifestation31 of Divine wrath32. This is an association of ideas which, like many others, has disappeared before the progress of physical science. Man is so constituted, that when a phenomenon affects him, he searches for the cause of it; and if he finds out that cause, he gives it a name. Then he sets himself to find out the cause of that cause, and so he goes on until he can mount no higher, when he stops, and exclaims, “It is God; it is the will of God.” This is his ultima ratio. He is arrested, however, only for the moment. Science advances, and soon this second, third, or fourth cause, which had remained unperceived, is revealed to his eyes. Then science says, This effect is not due, as we believed, to the immediate3 will of God, but to that natural cause which I have just discovered. And man, after having taken possession of this discovery, after having gained this step in the region of science, finds himself, so to speak, one step farther removed from the region of Faith, and again asks, What is the cause of that cause? And not finding it, he persists in the ever-recurring explanation, “It is the will of God.” And so he proceeds onwards for indefinite ages, through a countless33 succession of scientific revelations and exercises of faith.
This procedure on the part of mankind must appear to superficial minds to be destructive of every religious idea; for is the result of it not this, that as science advances, God recedes34? Do we not see clearly that the domain35 of final intentions is narrowed in proportion as the domain of natural causes is enlarged?
Unhappy are they who give to this fine problem so narrow a solution. No, it is not true that as science advances, the idea of God recedes. On the contrary, what is true is that, as our intelligence increases, this idea is enlarged, and broadened, and elevated. When we discover a natural cause for what we had imagined an immediate, spontaneous, supernatural act of the Divine will, are we to conclude that that will is absent or indifferent? No, indeed; all that it proves is, that that will acts by processes different from those which it had pleased us to imagine. All that it proves is, that the phenomenon which we regarded as an accident in creation occupies its place in the universal frame; and that everything, even the most special effects, have been foreseen from all eternity36 by the divine prescience. What! is the idea which we form of the power of God lessened37 when we come to see that each of the countless results which we discover, or which escape our [p517] investigations38, not only has its natural cause, but is bound up in an infinite circle of causes; so that there is not a detail of movement, of force, of form, of life, which is not the product of the great whole, or which can be explained apart from that whole.
But why this dissertation39, which is foreign, as it would seem, to the main object of our inquiries40? The phenomena of the social economy have likewise their efficient cause, and their providential intention. In this department, as in natural science, as in anatomy41, or in astronomy, men have frequently denied the final cause precisely42 because the efficient cause assumes the character of an absolute necessity.
The social world abounds43 in harmonies, of which we can form no adequate or complete conception until the mind has remounted to causes, in order to seek their explanation, and descended44 to effects, to discover the destination of the phenomena. . . . .
The End
The End
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1
phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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lavish
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| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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botanist
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| n.植物学家 | |
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enchantment
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| n.迷惑，妖术，魅力 | |
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12
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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defective
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| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
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astronomer
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| n.天文学家 | |
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extraneous
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| adj.体外的；外来的；外部的 | |
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penetrates
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| v.穿过( penetrate的第三人称单数 )；刺入；了解；渗透 | |
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intentional
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| adj.故意的，有意（识）的 | |
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intentionally
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| ad.故意地，有意地 | |
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anterior
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| adj.较早的；在前的 | |
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foresight
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| n.先见之明，深谋远虑 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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naturalist
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| n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者) | |
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microscopic
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| adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的 | |
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density
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| n.密集，密度，浓度 | |
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precipitate
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| adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物 | |
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sieve
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| n.筛，滤器，漏勺 | |
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plausibility
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| n. 似有道理, 能言善辩 | |
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astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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bellowing
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的现在分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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manifestation
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| n.表现形式；表明；现象 | |
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wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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recedes
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的第三人称单数 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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lessened
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| 减少的，减弱的 | |
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investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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dissertation
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| n.（博士学位）论文，学术演讲，专题论文 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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anatomy
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| n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织 | |
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42
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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43
abounds
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| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的第三人称单数 ) | |
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44
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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