Aquinas, Teleology, and Contemporary Biological Research
February 7th, 2009 by Fr. Gabriel Gillen, O.P.
The online edition of The Bulletin, a student publication serving the Gonzaga University community, reported that their Professor of Philosophy Michael W. Tkacz has been invited to give the esteemed Aquinas Lecture at the University of Oxford in Oxford, England, on Feb. 12.
See the full article here (Tkacz invited to lecture at University of Oxford by Rebecca Hofland, Issue date: 2/6/09 Section: News The Gonzaga Bulletin)
The title of Tkacz’s lecture is “Aquinas, Teleology, and Contemporary Biological Research” in which he will speak about the importance of the 13th century Catholic philosopher Thomas Aquinas to modern day scientific research programs. The lecture will be open to the public.
In addition to the lecture, Tkacz will teach a 10-day seminar at Blackfriars College, a division of the University of Oxford, which is run by the Dominican Friars. The Blackfriars division specializes in the study of Aquinas.
“One thing that draws me to his thought is that he has a way of thinking about faith and reason that is very useful,” Tkacz said. “Aquinas says that scientific research is fully compatible with faith.” In the modern world, there is a constant battle between faith and science. “People tend to associate science with reason and faith with emotion,” Calhoun a fellow professor said. Most would say reason and emotion are not compatible, but Aquinas thought otherwise.
“Not only are science and religion compatible, but it is part of our calling to study science,” Tkacz said of Aquinas’ ideas. Tkacz does not defend the idea of intelligent design, where everything is created by an intelligent cause. His ideas involving Aquinas are a middle ground between intelligent design and natural selection. In his lecture, Tkacz will use the basis of Aquinas’ thoughts to show a different way of thinking in the world of science and research programs, while focusing on biology.
Tkacz was chosen to lecture because his thoughts on Aquinas are applied to a topic of contemporary significance internationally.
Calhoun uses Tkacz’s ideas when he teaches his Christianity and Science class. Tkacz’s ideas help to examine an integrationist view of religion and science versus the traditional compartmentalized view where religion and science never interact. Calhoun says the integrationist view believes that “all truth is truth and it can fit together.”
