Do you think philosophy conflicts with or supports your theology?

Question

For anyone who has studied or even read up on Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras up to modern philosophers, do you feel their ideas clash with your religion or do you think the concepts are compatable?

For the non-religious: would you say ideas about ethics and morals can be adequately obtained from philosphy rather than religious doctrine?

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Answer 1

What man can compare to the wisdom of God? As it is thus written...

20Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. (1 Cor 1)

Answer 2

Truth can never contradict truth. The only question is to what degree do the "conditioned" insights of the philosophers (conditioned by their limits within culture, space, time, history, etc) apply to my own "conditioned" insights. Socrates (via Plato) and Aristotle are profoundly influential on my theology - as my theology is essentially Christian and the two had profound influences on Christian thought. But so are Kant, Kierkegaard, even Nietzsche... a host of modern philosophers. None of them perfectly "captures" my theology, because none of them shares my own conditioning and limitations; they all have their own. And yes, morals and ethics are "adequately" obtained from philosophy - which is to say Reason, and do not depend upon revealed religion.

But I'll say this: my theology has been as influenced by Aeschylus as it has by Aristotle, if not more so; certainly more by Shakespeare than by Schopenhauer. In other words, the DRAMA - the tragedy and comedy of life - speaks more to my theology than the abstract ruminations of even the most profound philosophers.

Peace to you.

Answer 3

Considering that the Platonists, Socratic and Pythagoreans were all groups in the Classical and Hellenistic periods of Greek history, I would say that those philosophers are entirely compatible with my religious beliefs and theology as I am a Hellenic Polytheist.

As for some of the more modern philosophers, I cannot comment as I am not as familiar with the writings of Sartre or Voltaire as I am with the Dialogues of Plato.

Answer 4

Philosophy is taught with great gusto at Christian (or at least in Catholic) Universities. St. Thomas Aquinas, though in no way infallible, laid the groundwork for Christians to embrace deep thought and revitalized the Church in his day by encouraging education.
Socrates, Plato and most philosophers since have come to a conclusion that God exists in some capacity even if only to act as an "unmoved mover".

I am sorry I cannot speak on modern philosophers because I have not taken modern philosophy classes.

Answer 5

True science -- the study of the empirically observable world in no way conflicts with faith... In fact I would go so far as to say, it bolsters faith because as one studies the creation one gets a better insight into the creator. That being said.. Something that happened it the past, is not happening now falls outside of empirically observable -- that is unless or until scientists figure out how to build a working time machine! this rather falls into the realm of speculation, and the further back you try to look the more assumptions and speculation are involved. After pure science was allowed to degenerate to speculation, suddenly those speculations decided there is no need for God so God must be false, and war was declared by the scientist on faith. Even that does not really bother me -- I honestly believe in time the true scientist will revolt against the charlatans who have hijacked science and turned into to a religion and balance will be restored. What bothers me is that these same folks who rely on speculation and increasing levels of unproven assumption instead of empirical observation, experimentation etc. Insist that we provide give an account by providing empirical evidence of God... Not only is that hypocritical, but it suggests they do not even have a remote understanding of real science - if they did they would realize that the spiritual is outside the realm of science and their expectations are absurd! In the real world, and in the scientific world, the facts can have many interpretations, some leading to the truth, some not. True science considers all the possible interpretations because summarily ruling out any interpretations because of a personal bias against the implications that interpretation might affect their world view undermines the ability of science to find the truth.

Answer 6

I don't think you really need philosophers *or* religion to come up with adequate morals. "Be nice and be considerate of others" will cover 99% of the moral decisions a normal person ever has to make. The rest they can think through when they encounter them. Be your own philosopher! (I'm not saying there isn't value in studying religion and/or philosophy, just that you can be an adequately moral person without doing either in my opinion.)

Answer 7

Since my religion is heavy on philosophy, to the point it is accepted as the standard for philosophic guidelines in a lot of Asian countries, I would say that it supports my Theology very much so.

Answer 8

it really depends upon the kind of philosophy and religion .
for instance Jean Paul Sarte supports no god . and their are others that claim the impossibility of the supernatural in the natural world . However I think they do better with ethics and morals than religion if you scrutinize them and choose well.
Albert Einsteins philosophy tauted Buddhism as the way of the future.

Answer 9

i think neo platonism meshes very nicely with my pagan beliefs and i also use principles of sacred geometry in my spell workings

I do believe that there is better morality to be found in the teachings of the philosophers then in the bible because they are less easily distorted

Answer 10

For the religions of the God Yahweh. It will soon be proven to conflict.