Notes for Perspectives: Mind and God (p. 1346 ff.)
Key quote: "Faith and devotion naturally grow in the mind of every reasonable man, who sees the impressions of divine power and wisdom in every object on which he casts his eye." Addison, Spectator 465.
Key term: Empiricism (the notion that truth can be obtained solely through experiments, experience, evidence)
The 18th century is about reading the Book of Nature—using the mind to understand greater theological truths. For most of the 18th century, the seminal figure is Isaac Newton (1642-1727), whose Principia Mathematica (1687) seemed to lay out the notion of God as Divine Architect. Newton was seen as using scientific reasoning to explain Divine creation—God as the Clockmaker, who created this giant machine and set it ticking. A key concept here is "the argument from design"—if the universe can be shown to have designs and patterns, then someone had to design them—that someone being God. Of course, this reliance on scientific observation, if taken to extremes, can also be used to disprove the existence of God—if you can’t prove that something exists by experience and observation (not by analogy or deduction), then it doesn’t exist. So the 18th century lays the groundwork for the divergence we still see today between faith and scientific belief, the kind of thing that comes out in creationism vs. evolution or the "God created AIDS as a punishment for sinners" kind of argument.
The key figures are
1. Newton. He explains the role of the intelligent "voluntary agent (1348)" who sets the machinery of Nature ticking. He saw himself as a natural philosopher, explaining the motions of the earth and planets.
2. Locke. Where Newton looked outside Man, Locke looked inside, to unlock what he called "the science of the mind." He was concerned with what we know and how we are able to know it. He argued that ideas come from our experiences, our perceptions, and our reflections on these, and is about the first to write about the individual consciousness (as opposed to individual consciences). He argued that identity is a stable thing, based on Divine principles. (See bottom third of p. 1353 esp.)
3. Hume. The great skeptic, he pushed empiricism where Newton dared not take it and Locke apparently would not take it. He argued that our sense of identity is shaped by perceptions, but that those perceptions are constantly changing because of events outside our control (p. 1361). His great metaphor is that the mind is a kind of theatre, where the scenes are constantly changing. Thus, the self can’t be a constant, stable construct as Locke thinks; instead, it is continuously evolving. This must mean either that the Divine Architect is constantly revising his creation or that there is no Divine Architect; Hume inclined to the second idea. He is famous for disproving the existence of miracles by using the principles of science ("A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature", p. 1363). It’s wrong to call Hume either an agnostic or an atheist; he saw himself as an empiricist who would not bend the facts to fit another theory.
Other figures to remember are Watts, who used hymns to reinforce the new science; Cowper, whose poem The Task encapsulates the proper work of the human mind (p. 1370-71); and Christopher Smart, sometimes called a madman but who saw in every creature, even his cat Jeoffry, the evidence of Divine handiwork.