2006-11-22 11:28:57 · 19 answers · asked by Socratic Pig 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
No.
2006-11-22 11:30:45 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
It all depends on the meaning of faith. Real faith involves the use of both inductive and deductive reasoning as necessary tools. For example, I had strong faith in one of my friend's intentions, despite the fact that everyone else thought otherwise. The faith was based on inductive reasoning in that case. Another example: when I was first doing zazen (zen meditation), I thought the zen stuff was just self-help, mind training (but kept an open mind). When I had some experiences that corresponded to standard milestones, extrapolation (based on inductive reasoning) led me to have some faith in the process and to be open to an experience that I thought was just mumbo jumbo. On the other hand, what most people think of as faith is really not faith at all -- it's just unanalyzed conditioning that uses the term 'faith' to delude the believer that their choice to not engage in the hard and scary act of questioning and investigation is somehow a virtue.
2006-11-22 20:08:22 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. that would be immature faith, which I will not call faith at all. a mature faith reasons with the rest of the world and is not afraid of its questions and doubts because it is honest enough to share them. However, what we are talking about is purely intellectual. Faith goes ahead and lets the heart believe, whether the mind goes with it or not. That's the only difference; the mind can go wherever it needs to on it's journey, but faith is a matter of the heart. It's too bad most people of faith in this forum force their minds to go with the heart because they can't face the truth: literalism falls apart when even lower criticism is applied, let alone higher criticism.
2006-11-22 20:00:58 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sure it could. It wouldn't involve a correct account of what faith is, but faith could be measured in that way.
Even though your sn suggests that you are a Platonist, I'm going to go ahead and point out that Aristotle reasoned to the existence of an unmoved mover from observations and human reason. This unmoved mover is the being Christians call God.
2006-11-22 19:39:38 · answer #4 · answered by mle_trogdor2000 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The book of James talks about faith having to do with Actions, turning Them on or off (not Reason). Ever since people got kicked out of the garden of Eden, it's been understood that when you're dealing with God you're dealing with the unseen, things immeasurable by human computation. Hmmmm... Maybe it's the stretch of trying to understand it all, to frame the logical and the unknown all in one workable package, that made Daniel and his friends so wise, and Joseph, and King David, and Solomon.
2006-11-22 20:12:16 · answer #5 · answered by shirleykins 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I can't help wondering if you are using your reasoning faculties right now. Look at a list of the great men of faith, ans what they contributed to the world in the fields of science, of politics, of social conditions. Slavery was abolished inthe British empire because of the continual insistence over 30 years of one man of faith.
Your question really seems thoughtless to me, as do some of the answers - they sound like: "he he, I'll join in too, heh heh, maybe I'll look real smart".
2006-11-22 19:40:31 · answer #6 · answered by Mr Ed 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, because many of the most prominent Christian philosophers writing in English work with issues of inductive reasoning (Alan Padget), yet might find other methods of reasoning as foundational to their faith.
2006-11-22 19:37:40 · answer #7 · answered by Aspurtaime Dog Sneeze 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We have been around this bush too.
No, faith is measured by one's trust and belief in what God reveals.
Reasoning faculties are not turned off, I am a very reasonable person and request that you ask a specific question or email me.
2006-11-22 19:33:43 · answer #8 · answered by Abbasangel 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
no, because you can apply inductive reasoning to any belief system you want. people who are intelligent, have the ability to process lots of information at once. the saying "the dumbest smart person" comes from a person who simply doesnt base his assumptions empirically, and because he has a faulty assumptions, he comes to a faulty conclusion. so faith in my opinion is someone who lacks that will to empirically question his belief system, WITH inductive reasoning.
2006-11-22 19:36:07 · answer #9 · answered by starworks5 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
blind faith in any thing does not have scope for reasoning faculties or abilities.our minds should be open and our ideologies or thinking should be free from any dogmatism.but the texts of major religions do not have scope for dialog and discussion and deriving truth through empirical methods. what HEGEL adopted to derive Truth through dialects, in bharateeya Vedanta, was described as NE TI NE TI VAADA.(neti means Na iti that means it is not truth) Upanishads gave scope for discussion. but it was abandoned in the bhagavadgeetha, in which Krishna clearly tells us that total belief in him was necessary.
2006-11-23 01:05:17 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, I heard they're using faith instead of a little rabbits now, as an enticement for Greyhounds on the Dog track
2006-11-22 19:32:58 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋