We recently spoke of the conversion of Joseph Ratzinger. Here we give the object of his conversion: metaphysics. This passage is from Humani generis, Venerable Pius XII's August 12, 1950 encyclical listing and warning against "dogmatic relativism:" the modern philosophical errors which come from opposing perennial philosophy and the doctrinal errors produced by them.
Venerable Pius XII lists seven errors which come from the scorning of Thomist philosophy, the traditional and essential intellectual support to Catholic theology.
1. This rejection of Thomas Aquinas deems perennial philosophy an old fashioned and rationalistic intellectual method.
2. It rejects the metaphysical notion of absolute truth as erroneous.
3. It holds that reality and transcendent reality are to be better expressed and more accessible by disparate and contradictory teachings, which are said to compliment each other.
4. It assumes that the scholastic method of the precise identification and expounding of questions, the accurate definition of terms and clearly delineated distinctions may be well for scholastic theology but unfit to address the questions and needs of modern culture.
5. It claims that the perennial philosophy is limited to immutable essences while the contemporary mind is concerned with the existence of things and actual life, which is ever changing.
6. Accepting every manner of philosophy, ancient, modern, East and West, it insinuates that any philosophy may be reconciled with Catholic dogma, e.g immanentism, idealism, historic or dialectic materialism, existentialism, whether atheistic or simply denying the rational nature of metaphysics.
7. It falsely accuses scholastic philosophy of considering only the intellect and neglecting the role of the will and the emotions in knowledge.
The widespread doctrinal errors which have arisen from this false philosophical principle are (#25-27):
1. Doubt that the existence of God may be proven by reason alone.
2. Denial that the world had a beginning.
3. The claim for the necessity of the creation of the world based on a necessity within divine love.
4. Denial of God's eternal and infallible foreknowledge of the free actions of men.
5. Doubt about the existence of angels as personal beings.
6. Doubt regarding the essential difference between matter and spirit.
7. Denial of the gratuitous nature of the supernatural order.
8. Perversion of the dogma regarding original sin.
9. Perversion of the dogma regarding sin as an offense against God.
10. Perversion of the dogma of the satisfaction worked for us by Christ.
11. That the dogma of transubstantiation should be changed to mean the Eucharist is just a symbolic representation which effects Christ's spiritual presence and intimate union with the faithful in his Mystical Body.
12. Denial of the necessity to belong to the true Church to attain eternal salvation.
13. Denial of the reasonable and credible nature of the Christian faith.
"32. How deplorable it is then that this philosophy, received and honored by the Church, is scorned by some, who shamelessly call it outmoded in form and rationalistic, as they say, in its method of thought. They say that this philosophy upholds the erroneous notion that there can be a metaphysic that is absolutely true; whereas in fact, they say, reality, especially transcendent reality, cannot better be expressed than by disparate teachings, which mutually complete each other, although they are in a way mutually opposed. Our traditional philosophy, then, with its clear exposition and solution of questions, its accurate definition of terms, its clear-cut distinctions, can be, they concede, useful as a preparation for scholastic theology, a preparation quite in accord with medieval mentality; but this philosophy hardly offers a method of philosophizing suited to the needs of our modern culture. They allege, finally, that our perennial philosophy is only a philosophy of immutable essences, while the contemporary mind must look to the existence of things and to life, which is ever in flux. While scorning our philosophy, they extol other philosophies of all kinds, ancient and modern, oriental and occidental, by which they seem to imply that any kind of philosophy or theory, with a few additions and corrections if need be, can be reconciled with Catholic dogma. No Catholic can doubt how false this is, especially where there is question of those fictitious theories they call immanentism, or idealism or materialism, whether historic or dialectic, or even existentialism, whether atheistic or simply the type that denies the validity of reason in the field of metaphysics.
"33. Finally, they reproach this philosophy taught in our schools for regarding only the intellect in the process of cognition, while neglecting the function of the will and the emotions. This is simply not true. Never has Christian philosophy denied the usefulness and efficacy of good dispositions of soul for perceiving and embracing moral and religious truths. In fact, it has always taught that the lack of these dispositions of good will can be the reason why the intellect, influenced by the passions and evil inclinations, can be so obscured that it cannot see clearly. Indeed St. Thomas holds that the intellect can in some way perceive higher goods of the moral order, whether natural or supernatural, inasmuch as it experiences a certain "connaturality" with these goods, whether this "connaturality" be purely natural, or the result of grace; and it is clear how much even this somewhat obscure perception can help the reason in its investigations. However it is one thing to admit the power of the dispositions of the will in helping reason to gain a more certain and firm knowledge of moral truths; it is quite another thing to say, as these innovators do, indiscriminately mingling cognition and act of will, that the appetitive and affective faculties have a certain power of understanding, and that man, since he cannot by using his reason decide with certainty what is true and is to be accepted, turns to his will, by which he freely chooses among opposite opinions.
"34. It is not surprising that these new opinions endanger the two philosophical sciences which by their very nature are closely connected with the doctrine of faith, that is, theodicy and ethics; they hold that the function of these two sciences is not to prove with certitude anything about God or any other transcendental being, but rather to show that the truths which faith teaches about a personal God and about His precepts, are perfectly consistent with the necessities of life and are therefore to be accepted by all, in order to avoid despair and to attain eternal salvation. All these opinions and affirmations are openly contrary to the documents of Our Predecessors Leo XIII and Pius X, and cannot be reconciled with the decrees of the Vatican Council. It would indeed be unnecessary to deplore these aberrations from the truth, if all, even in the field of philosophy, directed their attention with the proper reverence to the Teaching Authority of the Church, which by divine institution has the mission not only to guard and interpret the deposit of divinely revealed truth, but also to keep watch over the philosophical sciences themselves, in order that Catholic dogmas may suffer no harm because of erroneous opinions."
Evolutionism, dialectic materialism, idealism, immanentism, pragmatisim, existentialism and a certain historicism each give value only to the events of man's life, overthrowing the foundation of all truth and absolute law pertaining either to philosophical matters and/or especially to Christian dogmas. (cf. #6-7) "It is evident...that such attempts not only lead to what they call dogmatic relativism, but that they actually contain it." #16.