The Dangers of Scientific Heresies

But the spiritual man judgeth all things; and he himself is judged of no man.

(1 Cor 2:15)

Background

Christian civilization proceeded, step by step, carefully but fraught with uprisings and great consequences for humanity, along the lines of the great christological questions of the day, and concomitantly of the pressing questions in philosophy and especially metaphysics which needed to be reconciled to the Church's faith. Later, as the foundations of the faith were settled by the great (and largely forgotten) Councils, in communion with the civil authorities, more nuanced issues arose for discussion among theologians and Christian philosophers—the great Scholastics, as we know them today—until these too were decided in a dogmatic fashion for the well-being of Christian civilization. For in the City of God, a unity of belief is not only a positive attribute, but also importantly a via negativa, that is, a spiritual defense against tyrants—a tyranny born of the "traditions of men," which is to say the generational persistence of error (institutionalized): these sins against the truth are false ideologies that infect the body politic and spread a deadly contagion which inevitably leads to the greatest human suffering if not timely cured by true repentance (i.e., a contrite confession of our error and a return to the Truth). For our holy Mother the Church understood from the very beginning of her salvific mission to the nations that theology, and by extension philosophy, spills into the moral and political order, with either good or evil consequences for individual human beings and the common good. It was Saint Paul's prophetic wish that "henceforth we be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive" (Eph 4:14.) Any human society that fails in its responsibility to adhere to the God of all Truth and of His Incarnate Word already begins to sow the seeds of its autodemolition. "Weep not for me," our Lord told those pious women living in the world, "but for your children."

A little lower than the angels

It is 2020 anno Domini and the whole world is groaning for redemption, not from our sins, but from the human corona virus, the fear of which has sparked and daily fuels the most draconian measures by the civil authorities to stop its spread. Nearly the whole of mankind is compelled to participate, in one way or another (most of us under house arrest), whether or not we believe the predictions of experts (our modern day astrologers). With the eyes of faith let us read the signs of the times.

Some five-hundred years ago society was transformed by a revolution of the state (that is to say, of man) against the Catholic Church known to popular history as the Protestant Reformation. It was anything but reform. In very truth it was the radical reordering of Christian society, of that principled (though not always peaceful) coexistence and communion of the Church and the State and likewise of faith and reason. What, therefore, has man wrought in his rebellion? Though the Catholic Church is so often maligned for holding back the progress of science, in the grave and frightening calamity now upon us we see clearly the terrible power of science unleashed, or so-called science, over mankind. An error in philosophy, where reason is supposed to reign supreme, is no less dangerous to humanity than an error of faith. Both are material heresies in the widest sense. So also with scientific errors, and when the study of any given science yields to corruption and the influence of private interests—the traditions of men—the result is a stifling dogmatic scientism that is inherently immune from criticism, and ruthless toward its adversaries. Unlike in Christendom, where the Church (like Tolkien's ents) helped to slow and, at times, disrupt the progress of scientism, our post-Christian civilization is incapable of defending itself against both the malice and the ignorance of scientific men. Seen in this light one can discern the now-ancient error of going our own way, that is, our public infidelity and rejection of the only "Way" of salvation, as God in the flesh has told us. We are without excuse.

One of the worst consequences of this rejection of the Church is that the State is now subject, not to the just rule of law in view of the common good, but to a multiplicity of private interests as so many unchecked theologians panting for their favorite innovation. As always these private interests, whom I name oligarchs and plutocrats, the "money changers," are enemies of the people, of the poor and common man and the very same to whom our Lord preached His gospel; and who in very truth are spiritual creatures destined for glory. Nonetheless, men are easily deceived by that which is seen and heard (the remedy for this form of pride is the Eucharist!) and so often burdened with the weight of sins, thus ensuring their spiritual blindness in perpetuity. "For there shall be a time," writes the holy bishop Timothy, "when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables" (2 Tim 4:3-4).

The voice of one (et al.) crying in the wilderness

One is a mystical type, and in the present worldwide calamity there is one Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg, who I consider a genius, if only because he asks the right questions, and something of a modern-day Duns Scotus (of blessed renown). Of course there are a few others who, with similar credentials and expertise, and upon their honor, have publicly dissented from the growing hysteria. I am thinking in particular of the eminent Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi, who has echoed much of Dr. Wodarg's criticisms and has written an important open letter to the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Another astute observer, the Argentine-French virologist Dr. Pablo Goldschmidt, who emphatically states: "Our planet is the victim of a new sociological phenomenon, scientific-media harassment, triggered by experts only on the basis of laboratory molecular diagnostic analysis results." These brave men are our Galileos and true friends of humanity.

Dr. Wodarg critiques virology (still in its infancy) as a quack science, or we may say a fledgling science corrupted by scientism. Its adherents, as Dr. Wodarg points out in his writings, are engaging in phylogenetic speculations in a myopic game of ancestry. And these speculations (e.g., the species of the "novel" corona virus) were accepted without reservation, without examination even, by most Western governments and their oracles in the media, and so became the dogmatic fables that are now propelling the alarming reaction to a growing "pandemic" (another unscientific term) of seasonal flu-like illnesses.

In one of his short but fascinating articles, Dr. Wodarg curiously writes about sovereignty. Like Scotus, the argument Wodarg makes is a rather subtle one, I would say even metaphysical in its orientation because it is a humble, honest reminder that the end of all science is knowledge.

"Determining the cause of a disease is usually a very complex process that involves an in-depth and controversial discussion before agreeing (!) what the current state of science is. At least it should be like that. With SARS-CoV2 it took a few weeks. It gives the impression that one has been waiting for a second SARS chance for years."

Note the word cause, so grand in the history of philosophy. Wodarg continues:

The mood in biomedicine is like this. Everything that seems dangerous to fatal drives research forward. And research is always good. Can you ever know that [sic] enough? However, instead of creating knowledge, it is often enough to only reach a somewhat contradictory consensus. That doesn't bother anyone as long as the research billions and profits flow.

Now here at least is an honest man, and therefore a trustworthy guide during the present revolutionary crisis caused by the scientific heresy. Dr. Wodarg concludes as follows:

It does not matter that healthy people also carry many different viruses, some with vital tasks (human virome). Nor does it matter that many types of virus and strains are not pathogenic. To differentiate, one simply assumes ultra-specific methods. Dr. [Christian] Drosten, the SARS (co)discoverer, has benefited disproportionately from these circumstances in the past.  

There are good scientific standards. And haste doesn't produce quality. Science, and thus politics, is now running after that. It is easier to discredit valid arguments than fake news.

In other words, some standards are necessary for science to succeed in its work, but these same standards, so limited in scope and often built around working assumptions, are intrinsically meaningful only for those whose work they inform, for they are the traditions of men. As such, they are an arcane language that is foreign to the practice of other disciplines, especially law and politics, which are sovereign in their own right and operate on their own set of scientific principles, not to mention super-proprietary assumptions.

Scientism therefore produces its own propaganda, which is interpreted by the bewildered masses using the revolutionary principle of sola scriptura, which multiplies errors and produces neither knowledge nor unity, but rather ignorance and division. In times of acute crisis, when man is most in need of the truth that sets him free, these two vices (viz., ignorance and division) result in a fearful and belligerent populace that is all too eager to relinquish basic freedoms in exchange for security and false hope (i.e., false messiahs). Among practitioners, however, many are found to be innocent, namely, the expert ignoramus, who is bred to interpret his own work and all the external data, including the matrix of human knowledge, within a closed system—or school—of his choosing. "The mood in biomedicine is like this," Wodarg observes. (The same has occurred in the historic feuds between certain Catholic schools of theology to the detriment of their Queen.)