First Sentence

"Irrationalism and anti-intellectualism are not the peculiar properties and attributes of modern thought. Neither did they suddenly emerge in the Western mind during the Renaissance, even though at first glance this might seem to be the case, for it is certainly true that the philosophers of that era were much bolder in the formulation of their conviction in the autonomy of human reason than were the scholars of the Middle Ages. At the same time it must be admitted that the irrationalism which lurked beneath the mighty endeavors of Thomas Aquinas and his fellow scholastic thinkers was not supported with either the same purpose or boldness which became characteristic of the thinking of so many Renaissance humanists. However much we may disagree with Scholasticism and its endeavors to find a synthesis with Greek thought, particularly with that of Aristotle, it cannot be denied that with very few exceptions, if any, these medieval scholars all held to the unique authority of [the] Scriptures and to many basic Christian doctrines. Their tendency to ascribe varying degrees of autonomy to the human mind and will were not the fruit of unbelief but of the attempt to achieve a synthesis between Augustine and the heritage which he left them on the one hand, and the philosophy of Aristotle on the other. Medieval irrationalism was more the result of a failure to understand that Aristotle and Augustine could not be reconciled, rather than of the desire to overthrow his theological legacy. It is not too much to say that Aristotle, particularly for the Scholastics, held a fatal fascination which ultimately undermined the foundations of what seemed to be a magnificient medieval theological and philosophical cathedral, a kind of Chartres or Notre Dame for the human mind. If we are to find the seeds of the irrationalism which now pervades both modern philosophy and theology, we must go back beyond even the Middle Ages and look into the basic presuppositions of classical thought. We must retrace our steps in our investigation of the history of Western thought and come to terms with the basic presuppositions of the philosophies of Parmenides, Plato and Aristotle. For it is in Greek thought that the seeds were sown which have persisted throughout the whole of the intellectual development of the West and which have been a continual challenge..."