Evil Homer
05-24-2007, 08:00 PM
Many people argue the incompatibility of faith and reason, as if somehow these two concepts are conflicting with each other. Philosophers and saints alike have come to the realization for the necessity of both. The key is balance. To live harmoniously, there must be an adequate synthesis of both the senses and the abstract.
Time and again in the history of philosophy, truth was struck in the synthesis of extremes. heraclitus believed that everything was constantly flowing, as evidenced by our senses. This is true because nothing is permanant, but also false because even though form may change, substance does not. A horse may live and die, but it is still made up of exactly the same things as the horses before it and the horses after it. Parmenides believed the exact opposite; he believed that the senses were incorrect, and reason told him that everything was in a forever unchanging state. Then, along comes Democritus, harmonizing the two views into the theory of the atom, stating that the basic substance of everything never changed, but merely appeared in different forms.
Another comparison is between Plato and Aristotle. Plato held that the percieved world is merely a shadow world, and all we see are just physical imitations of ideas. Plato held that we are all subconsiously aware of these ideas, and the things we see simply remind us of the ideas. however, this leads to the problem of origin; what if those "ideas" are just shadows themselves? Where does it end. Aristotle contradicts this theory with the thought that there are no innate ideas, and "ideas" are merely reflections of nature. he also asserted that everything in the universe was created to serve a purpose, and not simply to exist. Aristotle's theory is also flawed in that it lacks a beginning. Aristotle attributes the beginning to an act of God, but gives no further insight as to the nature of this God.
During the Middle Ages, St. Augustine accepted the ideas of Plato of the "shadow world" but held that through faith and the awakening of a soul by God would the idea world be revealed. St. Thomas Aquinas took this idea further and adapted it with the philosophy of Aristotle. While reason and the senses can point towards truth and reality, only through faith can purpose and the will of God. Religion is somewhat like espionage; reason must be used to find the true message in a stack of fakes, and faith will provide the key to deciphering it.
Just my .3 cents.
Oh, in case anyone might have the fallacy that I'm smart, I took a lot of the factual information from Sophie's World. Great book, I highly encourage reading it.
Time and again in the history of philosophy, truth was struck in the synthesis of extremes. heraclitus believed that everything was constantly flowing, as evidenced by our senses. This is true because nothing is permanant, but also false because even though form may change, substance does not. A horse may live and die, but it is still made up of exactly the same things as the horses before it and the horses after it. Parmenides believed the exact opposite; he believed that the senses were incorrect, and reason told him that everything was in a forever unchanging state. Then, along comes Democritus, harmonizing the two views into the theory of the atom, stating that the basic substance of everything never changed, but merely appeared in different forms.
Another comparison is between Plato and Aristotle. Plato held that the percieved world is merely a shadow world, and all we see are just physical imitations of ideas. Plato held that we are all subconsiously aware of these ideas, and the things we see simply remind us of the ideas. however, this leads to the problem of origin; what if those "ideas" are just shadows themselves? Where does it end. Aristotle contradicts this theory with the thought that there are no innate ideas, and "ideas" are merely reflections of nature. he also asserted that everything in the universe was created to serve a purpose, and not simply to exist. Aristotle's theory is also flawed in that it lacks a beginning. Aristotle attributes the beginning to an act of God, but gives no further insight as to the nature of this God.
During the Middle Ages, St. Augustine accepted the ideas of Plato of the "shadow world" but held that through faith and the awakening of a soul by God would the idea world be revealed. St. Thomas Aquinas took this idea further and adapted it with the philosophy of Aristotle. While reason and the senses can point towards truth and reality, only through faith can purpose and the will of God. Religion is somewhat like espionage; reason must be used to find the true message in a stack of fakes, and faith will provide the key to deciphering it.
Just my .3 cents.
Oh, in case anyone might have the fallacy that I'm smart, I took a lot of the factual information from Sophie's World. Great book, I highly encourage reading it.