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Writings of Charles De Koninck, Volume D E K O N I N The Writings C K of ልሎ CHARLES C H DE KONINCK A R T L h E e S W D r i E t i n K g O s o N f I N C K ልሎ Edited and Translated by Ralph McInerny The Writings of CHARLES DE KONINCK Charles De Koninck, University of Laval, Quebec. The Writings of CHARLES DE KONINCK volume one Edited and Translated by Ralph McInerny with a biography by Thomas De Koninck andልሎ an introduction by Leslie Armour University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Indiana DeKoninck-000.FM 4/15/08 1:17 PM Page iv Copyright © by University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana www.undpress.nd.edu All Rights Reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Designed by Wendy McMillen Set in ./. Minion by Four Star Books Printed on # Nature’s Recycle paper by Sheridan Books, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Koninck, Charles de, d. [Works. English. ] The writings of Charles De Koninck / edited and translated by Ralph McInerny ; with a biography by Thomas De Koninck ; and an introduction by Leslie Armour. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. -: ---- (cloth : alk. paper) -: --- (cloth : alk. paper) . Koninck, Charles de, d. Science—Philosophy. I. McInerny, Ralph M. II. Title. '.—dc This book is printed on recycled paper. Contents Preface vii The Philosophy of Charles De Koninck 1 Leslie Armour Charles De Koninck: A Biographical Sketch 69 Thomas De Koninck ልሎ Works by Charles De Koninck The Philosophy of Sir Arthur Eddington (1934) 99 The Cosmos (1936) 235 The Problem of Indeterminism (1935) 355 Reflections on the Problem of Indeterminism (1937) 401 Are the Experimental Sciences Distinct from the Philosophy of Nature? (1941) 443 Index 457 Preface A few years ago, David Quackenbush, a tutor at Thomas Aquinas College in California, conceived the idea of photocopying the Charles De Koninck ar- chives at the University of Laval. Thomas De Koninck gave the open sesame, and I arranged to have two photocopies made, one for Thomas Aquinas College, the other for the Jacques Maritain Center at the University of Notre Dame of which I was then director. I had the great good fortune of studying under Charles De Koninck and receiving both my licentiate and doctorate under his direction. During the summer of 1950, I followed his courses at Laval. After receiving my M.A. from the University of Minnesota in 1952, I decided to complete my graduate studies at Laval in order to study under De Koninck. As it happens, when Quackenbush made his proposal, I already had a good number of De Kon- inck’s papers. In the summer of 1953, I was hired by Laval to be De Koninck’s assistant and each day I would appear at his home on the Rue Ste-Genevieve, settle down in his study, and rummage through his files. The idea was that I should introduce order into them. The assignment was largely a ruse de- signed to provide me with much needed financial support. I soon discovered that the files were filled not only with holographs in De Koninck’s distinctive and elegant hand, but also typescripts, ribbon copies, and carbons. Might I appropriate such carbon copies? I was told to go ahead, and of course I did. I also typed out a number of things for myself of which there were no car- bons, notably courses given in the late 1930s on scientific methodology. There were several copies of the page proofs of Le Cosmos, and I was allowed to have one. And there were off-prints of printed articles. Precious as this col- lection was, it was as nothing compared to the complete De Koninck papers. During the early 1960s De Koninck divided his academic year between Laval and Notre Dame, and thus I became the colleague of my mentor. Later, as director of the Maritain Center, I was impressed by the fact that such fig- ures as Maritain and Etienne Gilson continued to be read and to exert their vii viii | Preface influence. They had never ceased being household names.1 But there were other figures, on the next level of the Thomistic Revival initiated by Leo XIII, whose posthumous reputation was less assured. Yves Simon, thanks to the dedication of his wife Paule and son Tony, has enjoyed a long and deserved continuing influence. Simon died young. So, too, did Charles De Koninck. (By contrast, Gilson and Maritain lived into advanced old age and were pub- lishing almost to the end.) When Quackenbush’s initiative made the De Kon- inck papers available to the Maritain Center, I formed the idea of collecting the papers of as many North American Thomists as I could. It had already been brought home to me that many of the great figures I had the privilege to know, some more intimately than others, and, more importantly, who had defined Catholic philosophy in the middle quarters of the twentieth century, had become historical figures for a new generation. I and the dwindling num- ber of my coevals could invoke personal memories, contemporary gossip. The gossip of one generation becomes history for later ones, and it seemed important to gather as many materials as possible to facilitate that historical re-creation of the twentieth century which is already under way. This project is now under the capable direction of my successor in the Maritain Center, John O’Callaghan. It would be disingenuous of me to suggest that the writings of Charles De Koninck are for me simply an important trove of materials in the Thomis- tic Revival. A year or two ago, for quite accidental reasons, I began to reread Charles De Koninck. I was overwhelmed. One night, having finished an essay of his on the Eucharist, I sat back and said aloud,“Thank God that I studied under this man.”Soon I began to see the desirability of bringing out the col- lected works of Charles De Koninck. Thomas De Koninck was enthusiastic, but pointed out that a French edition of his father’s works was in the plan- ning. No matter, I had in mind an English edition. And so it began. This first volume contains writings ranging from De Koninck’s 1934 dissertation at Louvain (written under the direction of Fernand Renoirte) through two remarkable early essays on indeterminism and the unpublished book called The Cosmos.2 Students of the Thomistic Revival will be interested in the criticisms of Jacques Maritain’s philosophy of science to be found in the 1934 dissertation. De Koninck was here following the lead of his director Fernand Renoirte. The two long pieces on indeterminism flow nicely from the dissertation. I have no idea why Le Cosmos was never published. There Preface |ix it is, in page proofs, all but ready to go. It is a great tour de force but perhaps DeKoninck thought it premature. The article from Culture comes almost as a surprise, since in it appears for the first time De Koninck’s own distinctive view on the relation between philosophy of nature and the experimental sciences. It is possible to see that view slowly forming itself in the courses De Koninck gave on scientific methodology. ልሎ All the translations from the French in this volume are my own. Mr. Raymond Hain was of inestimable help in restoring the quotations from Eddington in the 1934 dissertation to the original English from the translations I had un- wisely made of De Koninck’s citing of French translations. Eddington was a notable stylist and must be allowed to speak for himself. Ralph McInerny, Notre Dame notes 1. For all that, the Maritain Center, in conjunction with the University of Notre Dame Press, began bringing out the writings of Jacques Maritain, in English, which is projected at twenty volumes, a third of which have appeared. 2. The dissertation is translated from the typescript found in the De Koninck pa- pers. Advantage has been taken of later written comments in the typescript by De Kon- inck. “Le problème de l’indéterminisme” is a paper read to the Academie Canadienne Saint-Thomas d’Aquin at its meeting of October 9‒ 10, 1935. It appeared in the printed proceedings of that session in 1937,pp.65‒‒159. It is from that printed version that the translation has been made. “Réflexions sur le problème de l’indeterminisme” appeared in Revue Thomiste (1937) in two installments, pp. 227‒ 52 and 393‒409.“Les sciences ex- pèrimentales sont-elles distinctes de la philosophie de la nature?” appeared in Culture 4 (1941): 465‒ 76. The Philosophy of Charles De Koninck Leslie Armour Charles De Koninck devoted his philosophical career to answering three of the questions which have most exercised contemporary men and women: How can we understand the growing chasm between our scientific world pictures and the world as it appears to common sense? How can we under- stand the power of modern science and accept its insights while maintain- ing our most central and traditional religious beliefs? And how can we main- tain the responsibility and dignity of the individual without undermining the communities in which we live and without denying the scientific accounts of human nature? Many philosophers have tackled these questions, but De Koninck was one of the relatively few to do so while denying himself the right to change the terms of reference. He wanted, that is, to retain his religious faith and not, as perhaps Whitehead did, to create a new religion. He wanted to ac- cept science as it really is and not insist on redefining its functions and prac- tices.
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