Chesterton jako prorok vědy?

Abstract

In my book about Chesterton (Fanatic, prophet or clown? G.K. Chesterton and his exponents) I distinguished three contradictory aspects of Chesterton´s work: polysemiotics versus ideological monosemiotics, movement towards negation of reality and order versus movement towards affirmation of reality and order, anthropological particularism versus universalism. This is why Chesterton could be understood as a conservative as well as a revolutionary, as a defender of universal human rights as well as a chauvinist, as a specialist in semiotics and heterogeneous interpretations as well as an ideologue constantly reiterating the same statement. Also in Chesterton´s relation towards science we can find ambiguous attitudes, for example towards supernatural phenomena. In most of his works, miracles really take place. Chesterton perceived openness to miracles as a sign of wisdom, but in his Father Brown stories, the main hero solves all the crimes simply with the help of his common sense, the belief in miracles being characteristic of superstitious materialists and charlatans. This and other paradoxes are also reflected in Chesterton´s reception among the Czech scientific community. Astronomer Jiří Grygar, a leading representative of Sisyfos, the Czech Sceptics‘ Club, understands Chesterton as somebody who perfectly discriminates between faith and superstition, and between science and pseudoscience. On the other hand, biologist A. Markoš and geologist V. Cílek, disciples of the Czech philosopher and biologist Z. Neubauer, regard Chesterton as a great opponent of scientism, the Sisyfos Club being a paradigm of this approach.