PASS Scripta Varia 21 - Pontifical Academy of Sciences

ANTONINO ZICHICHI
APPENDIX 6
If Our Culture were Modern, the Cultural Mistifications which are in the
‘Present Convictions of a Modern Culture’ would not Exist
6.1. If we were to live in the Era of Science everybody would know that Science
and Faith share the same values
If we lived in the era of Science, the values of Science would form an integral
part of the so-called Modern Culture. In fact, they are truths that render
Science an intellectual activity that is in perfect communion with
religious thought. We are dealing with two essential components that make
up our existence: one that operates within the Immanent, Science; the other
that operates within the Transcendent, Faith.
And this is the conclusion one comes to. Science, by studying the Immanent
in the most rigorous way that human intellect has ever been able to
conceive, discovers a series of truths, whose values (see Appendix 4) are in
perfect harmony with those that the same form of living matter, called man,
learns from Revealed Truth.
Four centuries after the time of Galilei, that which the father of Science was
able to see with a pure act of Faith and Love towards Creation becomes visible
in dazzling clarity: Nature and the Bible are both works by the same Author.
The Bible – said Galilei – is the word of God. Nature instead is His writing.
If we lived in the era of Science, these truths would be the cultural heritage
of everyone.
6.2. A few examples of cultural mystifications in ‘Scientific’ popularisation
Scientific Culture has the duty to correct the cultural mystifications of
the popularisation of science, mystifications that might at first sight seem
mistakes committed in good faith. But the fact that they are all bound to a
common cultural substrate confirms that they are not. In fact, the mystification
that Faith and Science are in antithesis is not the only instance where
falsehood is elevated to truth by popularisation of science. There are many
more. Here are a few examples.
Popularisation of science has:
• confused Science with Technology.
• never explained that the three great conquests of Reason are: Language,
Logic and Science (Appendix 3).
• always kept silent regarding the Galilean distinction of the three levels
of scientific credibility (Appendix 2).
• attributed to Science the responsibilities of the Planetary Emergencies;
responsibilities that belong instead to political violence (planet packed
124 The Scientific Legacy of the 20 th Century