Of All Things, Seen and Unseen: Josef Pieper’s Negative Philosophy, Science, and Hope:

Looking at the relationship between theological, philosophical, and scientific methods within the thought of twentieth-century philosopher Josef Pieper, the author argues that Pieper’s perspective is that theology, philosophy, and science are limited in their ability to obtain knowledge because they are human methods of inquiry. However, theology and philosophy as conceived by Pieper welcome this restriction while modern mechanistic views of science deny it. This article focuses on the distinctive differences that Pieper sees between philosophy as an apophatic discipline and modern scientific methods. It concludes with a discussion on the relationship between philosophy and the virtue of hope.