The freedom of science in the modern state : A discourse delivered at the third general meeting of the 50th conference of the German Association of Naturalists and Physicians at Munich, on the 22nd of September, 1877. With a new pref. by the author. Translated from the German, with the author's sanction.

  • Virchow, Rudolf, 1821-1902.
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The freedom of science in the modern state : A discourse delivered at the third general meeting of the 50th conference of the German Association of Naturalists and Physicians at Munich, on the 22nd of September, 1877. With a new pref. by the author. Translated from the German, with the author's sanction. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Gerstein Science Information Centre at the University of Toronto, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Gerstein Science Information Centre, University of Toronto.

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    objects than those of religious faith. It is, in my opinion, very unfortunate that the term faith '* has been claimed so especially by the Church, that we can scarcely apply it to secular things without being misunderstood. But, in fact, faith has a certain province in science also, in so far as the individual no longer takes upon himself to prove the truth of what he is taught, but is content to learn in the way of mere tradi- tion : just as is the case in the Church. I might likewise observe, conversely—and what I mean is not gainsaid by the Church itself —that what the Church teaches is not faith only, but her teaching has also its objective and sub- jective sides. No Church can refuse to develop itself in the three directions now described— namely, in the middle and sufficiently broad path of faith, alongside of which there lies, on the one hand, a certain quantum of objective histori- cal truth, on the other, a changeful course of subjective and often very fanciful ideas. So far the teaching of the Church and of Science is alike; for the human mind is very uniform, and