As I do not wish to judge people in ill part I bring no accusation against our new philosophers who pretend to banish final causes from physics, but I am nevertheless obliged to avow that the consequences of such a banishment appear to me dangerous, especially when joined to that position which I refuted at the beginning of this treatise. That position seemed to go to the length of discarding final causes entirely as though God proposed no end and no good in his activity, or as if the good were not the object of his will. I hold on the contrary that, since God always aims at what is best and most perfect, it is precisely in this fact that the principle of all existences and of the laws of nature must be sought. I am quite willing to grant that we are liable to err when we wish to determine the purposes or councils of God, but this is the case only when we try to limit them to some particular design, thinking that he has had in view only a single thing, while in fact he regards everything at once. As for instance, if we think that God has made the world solely for us, it is a great blunder, although it may be quite true that he has made all of it for us, and that there is nothing in the universe which does not affect us and adapt itself to the regard which he has for us, according to the principle laid down above. Therefore when we see some good effect or some perfection which happens or which follows from the works of God we are able to say assuredly that God has purposed it, for he does nothing by chance, and is not like us who sometimes fail to do well. Therefore, far from being able to fall into error in this respect as do the extreme statesmen who postulate too much foresight in the design of princes, or as do commentators who seek far too much erudition in their authors, it will be impossible to attribute too much reflection to God’s infinite wisdom, and there is no matter in which error is less to be feared provided we confine ourselves to affirmations and provided we avoid negative statements which limit the designs of God. All those who see the admirable structure of animals find themselves led to recognize the wisdom of the author of things and I advise those who have any sentiment of piety and indeed of true philosophy to hold aloof from the expressions of certain pretentious minds who instead of saying that eyes were made for seeing, say that we see because we find ourselves having eyes. When one seriously holds such opinions which hand everything over to material necessity or to a kind of chance (although either alternative ought to appear ridiculous to those who understand what we have explained above) it is difficult to recognize an intelligent author of nature. For the effect should correspond to its cause and indeed it is best known through acquaintance with its cause, so that it is unreasonable to introduce a sovereign intelligence ordering things, and in place of making use of the wisdom of this sovereign being, to employ only the properties of matter to explain phenomena. As if in order to account for the capture of an important place by a prince, the historian sould say it was because the particles of powder in the cannon having been touched by a spark of fire expanded with a rapidity capable of pushing a hard heavy body against the walls of the place, while the protuberances of the particles which composed the brass of the cannon were so well interlaced that they did not separate under this impact,—as if he should account for it in this way instead of making us see how the foresight of the conqueror brought him to choose the time and the proper means and how his ability surmounted all obstacles.
Chapter: 19