Collective Achievement… Reconstruction And Notre Dame
By JUDE DOUGHERTY “A Gothic cathedral is a collective achievement, the outcome of countless craftsmen working across the centuries toward a common goal. It is not the arena for idiosyncratic personal expression,” so wrote Michael J. Lewis in a timely essay. (1) Something similar may be said of an intellectual tradition that was being formed at the same time the European cathedrals were coming into being. Our subject is the formation of Western culture, the intellectual tools and the social conditions which contributed to its being. Stephen Gaukroger provides this insight. Like those great cathedrals, “Modern science is the outcome of a distinctive culture long in the making, a culture whose history begins in classical antiquity.” (2) Specifically, what needs…Continue Reading