Isaac Newton discovering the Law of Universal Gravitation.
(Source)
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Isaac Newton discovering the Law of Universal Gravitation.
(Source)
I often say on this web site that some persons who claim to be "Catholic" are not, because of the laws of Science! Here's why.
A few quotes by Thonnard on Sociology:
Every positive Science requires an object, a method, and laws.
1) The object of Sociology is the set of facts of human life considered under their common and social aspect [...] the social fact will be 1) an event proper to mankind, 2) where we can observe the agreement of several men. collaborating to attain the same goal, for example a sports club: the second criteria being obviously taken as a simple observation, without any value judgement, moral or other.
2) Laws. [...] Sociology [...] considers human facts in their generality as having certain specific features and able to reoccur several times. It's not, for exemple, such an assassination, that of Caesar by Brutus, or of Marat by Charlotte Corday which it studies, but the social fact of political assassination; it's not the existence of such a Roman or modern family it considers, but the family institution which endures under these various forms.
3) The indispensible method to constitute a positive Science is the experimental method as exposed here above. [...] Let's suppose, for example, that we're looking for the cause of political revolutions: if each time these revolutions break out, we observe the decrepitude of the economic situation (concordance method); if they never occur when the economy is prosperous (difference method); and if the dangers of revolution increase or are reduced with the lesser or greater economic prosperity (simultaneous variation method), we would have the right of establishing the law that the first social fact is the cause of the second one.
To find the determinism without which a positive Science cannot exist, the Sociologist must use the "Law of Great Numbers", he must study human groups, rather than focussing on Peter, or Paul, or John.
A human group is not like a heap of rocks. If you grab people at random and pile them up, you won't obtain a "social fact"! But imagine a bus filled with men. They were gathered a bit randomly, and don't really form a "society", a human group. Now, suppose one of the passengers decides to highjack the bus. What will happen? The other passengers will realize they share a common goal (get to destination on time), and that this intruder is harming the Common Good. It's quite possible that one of the more courageous passengers will get up and say: "You, Lady, take your cell phone and call the police! And you, you and you, the three big teenagers who are coming back from your football practice on the Plaines of Abraham, come and help me, we'll tackle this intruder!" If a Sociologist was in that bus, he would explain that a human group, strictly speaking, is starting to emerge.
Obviously, if a Sociologist wants to study a group of men, he must be able to know who is inside, and who is outside that group! (Imagine a Chemist who would want to study the element called Sodium, but who wasn't able to distinguish a test tube filled with Sodium, from one filled with chocolate ice cream!)
How then do we scientifically determine when an individual belongs to a human group? By induction, we can easily discover the "Sociological Law Of Gravity":
Membership in a human group is never determined by an individual at his own conditions, but by the government of that group ("government" broadly speaking).
Let's consider a few examples. Can you go to the border of Russia or China, and tell the border guard to let you in, because you've just decided that you were a Russian or Chinese citizen? Can you go to the local bank, and ask them for the combination of the safe, by claiming you are now a member of the human group called "Upper Management"? Can you go see the Montreal Canadians and ask for a paycheck, claiming that you are now a professional hockey player member of that human group? No.
Another way of arriving at the same conclusion is to think about the nature of societies. A society is a group of persons gathered by mutual rights and duties in order to obtain a common good under the direction of a competent authority. But, if anybody could become a member of a human group under their conditions, then people who have a goal incompatible with the common good of that society could become members, and destroy that society! We'd have to let serial killers become physicians, arsonists become firemen, thieves become bankers, etc.!
If you don't agree, I hereby declare myself a member of the human group called "The British Royal Family" (therefore say "Your Highness" when speaking to me), and also a member of the human group called "Owners of your car" (so give me your keys), and a member of the Order of Quebec Psychiatrists (so presto, I sign the form declaring you mentally incompetent, and I have you shipped away to a mental asylum!).
Does the Law of Gravity apply to apples? Yes. Does it also apply to men? Of course! A man who falls out of a tree will fall with the same gravitational acceleration as an apple (if we neglect air resistance). But if this man is a Catholic, will scientific laws still apply? Of course!
The Catholic Church is many things, but She also a human group, which therefore respects the Laws of Sociology, including The Sociological Law Of Gravity. In other words, it's impossible to be a member of the Catholic Church under one's own conditions. It's the government of the Church that decides. A sociologist who would read the Code of Canon Law would simply observe the (totally predictable) application of an inevitable law of Sociology. The "Canons" (or "Rules") #750, #751 and #1364 simply say that if a baptized person rejects something which is essential to be Catholic, then he is automatically "excommunicated" (i.e. placed outside that human group).
Why do people pretend to be Catholics, even though they are not? And why do so many Catholic Priests and Bishops avoid talking about The Sociological Law Of Gravity?
I think it's because of the "Second Sociological Law Of Gravity":
If there is a very threatening stick, or a very attractive carrot, people will have a tendency to flee the stick, and chase the carrot!
In other words, ask yourself what material advantage these people could obtain by pretending that non-Catholics are still inside of the Church!
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