38 VITALISM AND SCHOLASTICISM 



plete this statement by quoting the remarks of 

 the present erudite Professor of Philosophy at 

 Maynooth whose orthodoxy is not suspect 

 in an article on " Philosophy and Sectarian- 

 ism."* " Anyone who has even a superficial 

 acquaintance with scholastic philosophy will be 

 aware of its clear and emphatic insistence on 

 the fact that no authority, human or divine, 

 can be the ultimate 6 test ' or * criterion ' of 



truth, or the last underlying ground for our 

 assent, and acceptance of, any truth; and for 

 the very simple reason that whenever we do 

 assent to truth on authority, we must first 

 have employed our own reason to estimate and 

 judge the evidence forthcoming on behalf of 

 the knowledge and truthfulness of that autho- 

 rity." 



No doubt it is due to want of clear know- 

 ledge of this very important distinction and 

 confusion arising therefrom that MacDougal 

 commits himself to the statements that (i) 

 "the University of Paris adopted the ingeni- 

 ous subterfuge of distinguishing two forms of 

 truth, the theological and the philosophical, 

 in order to free scientific speculation from the 

 restrictive influence of the Church " (p. 38; 

 and (ii) " this additional and superfluous soul 



* Irish Theological Quarterly, Oct. 1910. 



