INTRODUCTION XXIX 



totelian natural philosophy and the so-called empirical, or 

 experimental sciences constitute one specific discipline, both 

 materially and formally: they are two parts of one and the 

 same science concerning ens mobile, and each part has need of 

 the other. These propositions are all justifiable according to 

 the principles of Albertus Magnus. Fr. Fernandez concludes his 

 study by saying, " The division of human knowledge into philo- 

 sophic and scientific as into two species necessarily and always 

 distinct by the very nature of the objects and the formal inde- 

 pendence of one from the other is an assertion which can be 

 made in Platonic, Cartesian, Hegehan and Bergsonian philoso- 

 phy, but cannot be made in Aristotelian or Albertine philoso- 

 phy, nor according to the truth of the matter." 



Today the view of Fr. Fernandez is defended by the Very 

 Reverend William Humbert Kane, O.P., and the Albertus 

 Magnus Lyceum. On reading the paper in 1936, Fr. Kane 

 immediately recognized the merits of this view, and his own 

 quest for a solution fell into place. Through his stimulating 

 classes! and informal discussions he developed a group of dis- 

 ciples and friends who were equally convinced of the impor- 

 tance of a unified view of Thomistic natural philosophy and 

 modern investigations. By 1950 sufficient unified interest was 

 shown in the study of natural philosophy and modern prob- 

 lems to warrant suggesting a special institute directed by 

 Fr. Kane for serious work in this area. The idea of such an 

 institute was, indeed, unique in the Dominican Order; on the 

 other hand, nowhere in the Order were there so many men con- 

 vinced of the importance of Thomistic natural philosophy for 

 the solution of modern problems. The idea of an institute de- 

 voted to special research was also unique among Dominicans 

 in the United States; on the other hand, the time was ripe for 

 such a venture in this country. Consequently the idea was 

 formally presented to the Provincial of the Dominican Province 

 of St. Albert the Great, the Very Reverend Edward L. Hughes, 

 O. P., by the Regent of Studies and President of the Pontifical 

 Faculty of Philosophy at River Forest, Illinois, the Very Rev- 



