Can anyone discuss the apparent conflict between faith and reason. Is there really a conflict? Can one use reason to consider whether God exists? Also feel free to discuss anselm and aquinas' arguments.
2007-02-14 12:28:55 · 14 answers · asked by kryptobud2003 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Sure, there's a conflict between faith and reason. Believing is easy, thinking is hard.
In order to use reason in the ontological argument (existence of God) you'd need empirical evidence. And, well, there ain't any. Oops.
Which arguments by St. Anselm & St. Thomas were you referring to?
Good luck on the rest of your homework.
2007-02-14 12:35:55 · answer #1 · answered by Tom K 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Of course you can reason to consider whether God exists. Using reason to prove God exists is another matter, but reason CAN get us somewhere on the subject--it doesn't leave us completely clueless. Reason tells us that you can't get something from nothing, but let's face it--there's a lot of something in the universe. Therefore, reason allows for a creator, something eternal from which all other somethings came. Aquinas argued that there had to be a First Cause--something doesn't exist without a cause, so something had to be the First Cause from which all other causes come. Science gives us the cause of the Big Bang, but it still cannot fully explain how the Big Bang came about--only that it happened.
All this is to say that reason deems it possible, even probable, that a God exists, but it still cannot prove the existance of God. I believe it was Aristotle that put forth the idea that our universe is eternal. The Big Bang would seem to deny this premise, but our Big Bang could have been the result of a Big Crush, if you will, of another universe, which was the result of the Big Crush of another universe, which was the result of the Big Crush of another universe, extending through eternity. Aristotle's theory, therefore, could still be possible--that "creation" is eternal just as God could be eternal.
Consequently, I would say that while faith and reason may conflict with each other at times, they are not in one perpetual conflict that always has them acting at odds with one another. Faith fills in what reason cannot explain; reason elaborates on the truths faith gives us. God is probable, but he is not provable, which is why belief in God is still considered faith and not concrete, apparent knowledge.
I hope that suffices : )
P.S. My apologies if what I said about Aristotle was inaccurate.
2007-02-14 21:16:16 · answer #2 · answered by cajun_minou 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Faith in God can be expressed only if you do have a reason to believe. Threrefore there is not confict there. However, if you try to investigate further inside your faith, you may have to deal with questions that require a logical approach and may intrigue you to answer them. It is there where you need to give reasons to understand them. Hence, the conflict in this case may appear to have an esoteric nature. The other case is the exoteric conflict which is mostly used in conjunction with exoteric religions. The first part (endogenous) of this, is that it tends to shift the focus of the believer away from the exploration of the inner self towards the unreserved submission to God. The second part (exogenous) derives from the variation among the ways differents religions state the reasons to approach God.
2007-02-14 21:40:56 · answer #3 · answered by mphermes 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Faith relies on people to take certain basic requirements as given without being able to proof them. So the more clearly you define your faith, the more likely it is to come into conflict with reason.
that's why the christian religion and the interpretation of the bible has become, over the centuries more and more abstract. Scholasticism never dared to dispute god's existence, always subordinated reason under faith. At the same time it had to make concessions to reason since people weren't stupid enough anymore to just agree with all they were told.
However A&A dont do much to proof anything.For example the "summa theologiae", simply lists 5 ways of how A. thinks god has to be, dirived from his observation of what god isn't . IF he is, he doesnt explain, simply equates god with existence itself. cheap, that.
In my opinion reason will always lead you to the certainty that there is no god, at least not in a biblical understanding of the term. You cant use reason to explain the inexplainable.
The fact that we will never be able to answer everything with reason, will definitely keep us guessing and some of us believing.
2007-02-14 21:15:53 · answer #4 · answered by benjamin z 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Except for the nomalists, atomists, stoics, and skeptics the Idealists, Realists, and Sophists seem to meet at a certain point of convergence with the Theologian Philosophers like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Acquinas in a manner that they all follow the consensus agreement, in different angles of perception the existence of a God who also plays a major part in the creation of the universe and everything in it .-
Anselm believed that forms(ideas) existed independently in any individual object. MAnkind for him was a real thing and existed over and above any one man while St. Thomas Acquinas argued that ythese universals or ideas exists in particular objects.
2007-02-14 21:00:05 · answer #5 · answered by oscar c 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In my opinion, it cant be there at the same time. The 2 personality types collide. Faith implies that your personal deity is the absolute rule. Theeir law is above all others. Reason sees the idea of a deity being all powerful as blasphemous. Ironic choice of words, sure. But thats the only way to describe it.
2007-02-14 20:39:02 · answer #6 · answered by arkha_cerceuil 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Reason is limited to the finite human mind. Faith enters the realm of the infinite, which we cannot fully understand. When we accept the infinite nature of God, we can see a rationale for His existence better.
2007-02-14 20:41:42 · answer #7 · answered by Bob T 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
We can come to understand some things by "reason," but, because we are so limited, there are many, many things that we can not understand by reasoning. Yet, there is a under current, or hints that seem to live just below our thoughts that seem to move us in certain directions. This is faith.
2007-02-14 22:11:18 · answer #8 · answered by Bluebeard 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
humanity drowned in arguments from the beginning of time...and still under the water with lack of oxygen...proving, disproving...God's existence still fully unknown...Reason it is not something which statically existent, reason is something which we are creating along with our development...It is short lived faculty, easy changeable and transformable...In truth reason may not even exist naturally, and why it should if everything is perfect? It exist only for imperfection, although questionable....we are created reason and put it into labor outside of ourselves. We are Reason itself made reason to manifest ...as image and likeness but ignorant yet.
2007-02-14 22:11:40 · answer #9 · answered by Oleg B 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Faith is belief despite a lack of supportive evidence or the presence of evidence to the contrary.
Beliefs formed by reason must have some evidence or inductive support.
2007-02-14 21:07:59 · answer #10 · answered by Eggshell 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋