So why do I make this counter-intuitive suggestion that Judaism gave rise to rationality?
The popular belief is that the roots of reason and science lie in ancient Greece. Now undoubtedly Greece contributed much to modernity and to the development of Western thought down the ages. Nevertheless, in certain crucial respects Greek thinking was inimical to a rational view of the universe. The Greeks, who transformed heavenly bodies into gods, explained the natural world by abstract general principles.
By contrast, science grew from the novel idea that the universe was rational; and that belief was given to us by Genesis, which set out the revolutionary proposition that the Universe had a rational Creator.
Quando leio uma coisa escrita por alguém com autoridade de direito, e com que não concordo, começo a ficar inquieto; (more…)