By Guest Writers: Aleksi Gramatikov and Abigail Mee, with assistance from Dr Kevin Tracey
The Irishman Ernan McMullin (Figure 1) was a noted philosopher who spent much of his distinguished career at the University of Notre Dame, where his work on the relationships between philosophy, religion, and science helped influence generations of future scholars. Importantly, McMullin’s interest in these topics was influenced by his early studies in divinity and physics at Maynooth. Upon his passing in 2011, he bequeathed some 350 books to Maynooth University’s John Paul II library.[1] As part of our SPUR project, this summer we explored that bequest and its relevance to McMullin’s scholarship.[2] To extend our research into his library, his thought, and his personal and professional networks, we took the initiative to email several people who had written dedications to McMullin in their own publications. As the following article details, our project sheds further light on an academic who is remembered not only for his significant contributions to the history and philosophy of science (HPS), but also for his warmth, kindness, and generosity.
Ernan McMullin’s Life and Career
A Donegal man, Ernan McMullin was born in Ballybofey in October 1924, and died in February 2011 in Letterkenny. At Maynooth College, he successfully completed bachelor’s degrees in physics and theology in 1945 and joined the priesthood in 1949. As his subsequent fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Sciences in Dublin (DIAS) demonstrates, his ordination did not curtail his scientific interests. After the completion of his doctorate in 1954, McMullin joined the philosophy department of Notre Dame, and his colleagues Philip R. Sloan and Don Howard recall him as central to the president Theodore Hesburgh’s goal of transforming the university from Catholic men’s college to a world-class research institute.
McMullin enjoyed great success at Notre Dame, acting as director of the graduate program in HPS from 1977 to 1994 and holding the John Cardinal O’Hara Chair in Philosophy thereafter. Alongside his achievements and additional accolades from the American Catholic Philosophical Association and the Metaphysical Society of America, he was remembered by colleagues as a wonderful friend and mentor and the embodiment of the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual culture cultivated at Notre Dame.
Ernan McMullin’s Bequest to Maynooth
As befitted his career, the philosopher left more than 350 books on the history and philosophy of the physical sciences; cosmology; biology; and relationship between science and religion. A significant sub-section of the bequest concerns scholarship on Galileo Galilei, his astronomy, and his disputes with the seventeenth-century Roman Catholic Church. McMullin was an expert on these topics, and his important, edited collection The Church and Galileo (2005) took the present-day Church to task over the limitations of its 1992 partial apology concerning the ‘Galileo Affair’ (Figure 2). This collection is a rich source of materials for anyone in any field with interests in HPS.
Many books were signed by McMullin, and just over 30% contained examples of his active reading of their contents – including nota bene, commentary, and, sometimes, strong disagreement. Evidence from McMullin’s reading processes helped our understanding of his academic approach, and, at the same time, encouraged us to complete a bibliography of his works, articles, and reviews. In the future, it may be possible to combine these findings with research into McMullin’s notebooks, currently held in Notre Dame.
Our Interactions with McMullin’s Theory
The inquiries highlighted by McMullin’s annotation in Figure 3 remain relevant, with current scholars such as Paul L. Allen, Amerigo Barzaghi and Josep Corcó continuing to utilize his works and concepts.[3] Throughout this project, we had the opportunity to engage with Ernan McMullin’s work, in particular his idea of critical realism. Perhaps owing to his training as a theoretical physicist, McMullin acknowledged the existence of an independent reality that can be studied through scientific methods. This means is that we can actually know things about what we experience – and that we can predict what might be the case even without direct experience. This approach emphasizes the importance of understanding the underlying structures and mechanisms of the world around us. Yet, for McMullin, our understanding of the ‘real world’ is based on methods, models and theories which are themselves subject to change over time. As such, historical perspective is crucial. This position is reflective of his philosophical and religious positions, both of which allowed him to emphasise the limits of human understanding. Ernan McMullin’s persistent clarity of thought and his holistic approach encouraged him to find ‘consonances’ between science and religion in an attempt to bridge the gaps which many believe insurmountable.
Evidence of Ernan McMullin’s Networks and Influence
A significant number of items bore the signature of their authors, and books were often addressed or dedicated to McMullin. In one uniquely collaborative example, I. S. Shklovskii and Carl Sagan’s Intelligent Life in the Universe contained a dedication from the renowned Sagan himself. As we explored these examples further, we were struck by the respect – and indeed, love – many authors communicated for the Irish philosopher. Fellow theorists, colleagues, friends, and students were all present, including authors such as Des Clarke, Janet Kourany, Dava Sobel, and Kenneth Winkler. These dedications alone act as testament to the strong ties Ernan McMullin forged across his career. But when McMullin’s peers and colleagues heard of our research programme, they responded with astonishing generosity: providing us with deeply personal recollections of the how, when, and where of their interactions, many of which had occurred years or decades prior.
At the start of this project, we had thought of Ernan McMullin as a successful academic with an interesting link to Maynooth. The picture others painted, however, was of an inspirational and generous philosopher who influenced and supported scholars in almost every branch of the history and philosophy of science.
Taken together, Ernan McMullin’s bequest to Maynooth University and the memories of his friends and colleagues demonstrate just how valuable the man and his and work were. Later this summer, anecdotes from McMullin’s career will feature alongside an exhibition of historical materials from the Russell and John Paul II libraries identified as part of our SPUR project. These materials will contribute to a conference influenced in part by McMullin’s work, titled Consonances I: Mathematics, Language, and the Moral Sense of Nature, with opening remarks by Professor Sophie Roux (Paris), subtitled ‘A Belated Tribute to Ernan McMullin’. As we hope we have shown, each of these factors make Eran McMullin, his work in HPS, and his unique bequest to the John Paul II Library worthy of further study.
[2] Maynooth University Summer Programme for Undergraduate Research (SPUR) project, ‘Reflections on the History and Philosophy of Science: Exploring Ernan McMullin’s Bequest to Maynooth University’. Supervised by Dr Susan Gottlöber (Philosophy), Dr Ciarán Mac an Bhaird (Mathematics and Statistics) and Dr Kevin Tracey (English).
[3] See for example Paul L. Allen, Ernan McMullin and Critical Realism in the Science-Theology Dialogue (Abindgon: Routledge, 2006); Amergio Barzaghi and Josep Corcó, ‘Ernan McMullin’s Thought on Science and Theology: An Appreciation’, Open Theology, 1 (2015), 512-523.
MU Library Treasures 