RELIGION AND SOCIETY

Religion and Society ~ 404 ~ is not capable of discovering them. In the book, Man the Unknown, Dr. Alexis Carrel has shown that the question of values requires complete acquaintance with the different branches of knowledge, but that owing to man’s limitations, this is an impossibility. He has even rejected the idea of a committee of experts reaching any sound conclusions because while “a superior art comes into being by one mind, it has never been produced by an academy.” The fact that only partial knowledge has been granted to man is a reality which must be accepted. It is a fact supported by modern science, particularly since the time of the First World War, that man is subject to certain biological and psychological limitations and cannot, therefore, apprehend all facts through his senses. To borrow Locke’s phrase, “the real essence of substances” is forever unknowable. Even Einstein advocated scientific contemplation, and not just observation, if the more profound aspects of the universe were to be understood. Einstein’s view is thus summed up by a colleague: