Etienne Gilson, Critic of Positivism

The Thomist 71 (2007): 199-220 ETIENNE GILSON, CRITIC OF POSITIVISM ARMAND MAURER Pontifical Institute ofMediaeval Studies Toronto, Ontario, Canada 0 PPOSITION TO POSITIVISM was a lifetime concern of Etienne Gilson. His first published article, entitled "Sur le positivisme absolu," was a criticism of an article defending absolute positivism by the Parisian philosopher Abel Rey. 1 Both articles, along with Rey's reply to Gilson, appeared in 1909 in the journal of the University of Paris, Revue philosophique de la France et de l'etranger.2 At the time Gilson was teaching philosophy and mathematics at the lycee in Rochefort-sur-Mer on the Atlantic coast, and he was about to submit his second, complementary doctoral thesis to his master at Paris, the positivist and sociologist Lucien Levy-Bruhl, who also happened to be an editor of the Revue philosophique. Gilson knew that Levy-Bruhl fundamentally agreed with the positivism of Abel Rey, that science is the only valid way of knowing, but he gave his critical article to his master, who graciously published it while letting Gilson know that he thought his position was out of date. Gilson recorded this event sixty-three years later when giving three public lectures "In Quest of Species" at the Pontifical 1 Abel Rey (1873-1940) taught in French lycees and at the University of Paris. He wrote on psychology, morality, sociology, the philosophy of physics, and the history of science. See Larousse du XXe siecle (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1932), 5:1063. For an earlier view of Gilson's article on Rey see Laurence K. Shook, Etienne Gilson (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1984), 40-41. 2 Abel Rey, "Vers le positivisme absolu," Revue philosophique de la France et de l'etranger 67 (1909): 461-79; Gilson's article and Rey's reply to it both appeared in "Notes et discussions sur le positivisme absolu," Revue philosophique de la France et de l'etranger 68 (1909): Etienne Gilson, "Sur le positivisme absolu," 63-65; Rey's reply, 65-66. 199 200 ARMAND MAURER Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto, just before leaving for France in final retirement in 1972. Opening these lectures, he recalled his first article in 1909 in criticism of Abel Rey's absolute positivism. "At that time," he mused, 'absolute positivism' was a new term, coined by Abel Rey, a professor of philosophy at the Sorbonne, in order to designate what we today more harshly call 'scientism'. I do not remember the words I used then, but I distinctly recall my state of mind in raising that youthful protest against scientism. I was naively but intensely feeling indignant about a university professor of philosophy brazenly teaching that there was no such thing as philosophy.3 Thus at the beginning of his career Gilson struck a pattern of thought that would remain until the very end. This essay proposes to examine the interplay of ideas in the three articles of Abel Rey, Etienne Gilson's critical response to Rey, and Rey's rejoinder to Gilson. This is followed by a brief account of Gilson's views on Auguste Comte, the founder of positivism, and its relation to Rey's absolute positivism. Finally, we shall consider Gilson's own philosophy in the light of his criticism of positivism. Though his article occupies only three pages, it assumed some importance when he recalled it in his lectures on species in 1972. Having firmly turned his back on positivism at the beginning of his career, he confirmed his rejection of it at the end. His was a lifelong opposition to Auguste Comte. At the beginning of his lectures "In Quest of Species," Gilson said: "Some of us only late in life realize what confers a degree of unity upon our philosophical reflection." One of the themes that give unity to Gilson's philosophical life is his rejection of positivism and his conviction of the validity of philosophy as a way of knowing specifically distinct from that of science. 3 Gilson, "In Quest of Species," three unpublished lectures, in theArchives of the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto. On these lectures, which are being readied for publication, see Shook, Etienne Gilson, 40-41, 387...