Fr. Carlo Boyer, S.J.
"Carlo Boyer (1939). Boyer was a Jesuit Neo-Scholastic professor at the Gregorian University and a member of the Roman Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas. His Cursus Philosophiae manual had an introduction by Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli, later to become Pope Pius XII, which praised the doctrine (from Aquinas), the order of presentation, and the treatment of "modern" questions. The presentation is very well ordered, has great clarity using the thesis form, follows the traditional order of philosophical tracts, and is very useful as a class text. Boyer argues very succinctly and to the point. Boyer is useful in his treatment of evolution, he answers both the Neo-Darwinians (Weissmann) and the Neo-Lamarckians. He holds the possibility ("possibilis est evolutio intra plures inferiores gradus classificationis") of evolution "within" the lower grades of classification, such as species, genus, and family. He denies evolution "between" species ("non habetur evolutio ab una specie proprie dicta ad aliam"). He is interested in the origin of the body of man, and denies it originates by evolution ("corpus hominis non est per evolutionem brutorum formatum"). Boyer has an extensive treatment of Charles Darwin, whom he generally opposes. Specific opposition of Boyer relates to Darwin’s view that the sensible appetite is just a complex of sensations; Darwin’s opinion that beasts do not differ essentially from man; Darwin’s view that the whole man, body and soul, evolved; Darwin’s systematic presentation of evolution; and Darwin’s position that God is not demonstrated from order in the world.
Carlo Boyer is also a member of the Roman Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas. For example, he wrote for the Academy journal in 1954 in Italian on the proofs for the existence of God given by Aquinas. He noted that atheism and its increase is the scandal of our time. He noted that never before in history has the negation of God been so audacious and so apparently successful. The article on atheism is especially relevant to our presentation of evolutionary atheism. In 1962, he wrote in French for that same Academy journal on "School Liberty." This was an activist article which noted that whoever cares for the good of humanity is very interested in the question of education. This article is especially relevant to our presentation on the evolutionary future of man." - John Edward Mulvihill, S.T.D., D.Min., Ph.D.
St. Thomas Aquinas
