Professor Renoirte's Cosmology

COMMENTARY Professor Renoirte's Cosmology Another in the series of courses published by the Institute Supérieur de Philosophie of the University of Louvain and translated into English, the present volume by Professor Renoirte, trained not only in philosophy but in the physical and mathematical sciences, might be expected to answer the crying need for a good cosmology text. Even a hasty glance at the contents, however, soon convinces the reader that the principal title Cosmology is misleading. It is the more modest subtitle that indicates the actual content and scope of the work. In fact, one wonders whether Professor Renoirte himself would approve of the translator 's addition of Cosmology to the original title, Elements de critique des sciences et de cosmologie, particularly in view of the learned author's remark in his Preface to the second French edition: "Les notes de cours que nous présentons dans ces pages, n'ont pas la prétention de poser ni résoudre tous les problèmes que soulève l'étude philosophique du monde matériel." And the fact that he entitled his work Eléments makes it clear that he did not intend to raise or resolve even all the principal problems. As a matter of fact, the author is concerned with but one basic problem in the whole work - a problem, incidentally, that seems to be as perennial as the "cosmology " of the philosophie perennis - the relation of philosophy and the sciences. Those familiar with Renoirte's writings will recognize that this problem has always been one of his principal concerns. In the present work, he uses the problem of the constitution of bodies to clarify in concrete fashion his own view of the matter. Instituting a critique of both physics and cosmology, the author determines the limits of their respective contributions to man's knowledge of the material universe by pointing out the precise type of question each discipline is qualified to raise and to answer. The work falls into three parts, the length of each being inversely proportional to its philosophic importance. The first and longest is entitled "A critical study of some questions in positive science." The questions discussed are restricted to the sciences of physics and chemistry and, even within these fields, their discussion is purposely kept on a rather elementary level lest It exceed the grasp of one who has had nothing more than a normal highschool student's acquaintance with either of the sciences involved. As a result most of the really vital questions of the empiriological sciences that would or should interest the cosmologist are not even touched upon. This limitation, of coursle, is understandable in view of the author's conception of the role of Cosmology and perfectly justified in view of his immediate objective, which is to illustrate by a few well-chosen examples how the physicist progresses towards an ever increasing precision of scientific concept. The second part, entitled "Elements of a critique of the sciences," constitutes the best part of the work, even though Dr. Renoirte claims it is not the philosopher 's, but the physicist's task, that he undertakes in this section (p.197). Undoubtedly this point will be questioned by some, particularly when even such antimetaphysicians as the members of the "Vienna circle" have 1'nally entrusted it to the philosopher of science, (cf. e.g. P.G. Frank, Modern Science and Its Philosophy, (Harvard Univ. Press, 1949), p.277.) Nevertheless, the fact remains that the general lines of the author's critique were sketched already by that theoretical physicist, Pierre Duhem (La théorie physique, son object et sa structure . Paris, 1906). This second part is broken down into three chapters which deal with "Things and Facts," "Laws," and "Theories." In the first chapter, Fernand Renoirte, Sc. D., Ph. D. (Transi. James F. Coffey, Ph. D., S.T.D.) Cosmology. Elements of a Critique of the Sciences and of Cosmology. (The Philosophical Series of the Higher Institute of Philosophy, University of Louvain, Belgium) New York City: Joseph F. Wagner, Inc.; London: B. Herder, 1950. Pp. xv+240 +Topical Index and Index to Proper Names. $3.50. 139 140PROFESSOR RENOIRTE'S COSMOLOGY the author...