INTRODUCTION
“To know” as Aristotle will rightly observe is natural to
man. In other words, the acquisition of knowledge is inevitable in the nature
of man, though the certainty of this knowledge can be argued anyway. However,
the idea of certainty in knowledge can be said to be perennially problematic,
in that certainty in knowledge implies the truthfulness of what is said to be
known. Furthermore, it not only implies its truthful nature but also strives to
ascertain or rather scrutinize the authenticity of the source through which
such knowledge is gotten.
However, this scholarly work aims at explaining in details
whether the human reason alone can know the fullness of truth. Also, it is to
be noted that this work will reflect the idea of Saint Pope JohnPaul II in his
Encyclical Fides et Ratio.
TRUTH,
REASON AND FAITH
The chapter of Aristotle’s Metaphysics begins with a categorical and profound statement
summing up man’s nature and his philosophical endeavours: “All human beings (by
nature) desire to know.” The idea of acquisition of knowledge implies the
truthfulness of what is said to be known. Inferably, Aristotle’s assertion
defines man as one who seeks the truth. The human nature is ordered towards
Truth and finds its perfection in discovering it. We all desire to know the
truth and want to live the truth we know. This defines the fundamental identity
of man. To deny the thirst for Truth is to imperil or rather to endanger
existence.The desire for truth is part of human nature itself. The yearning for
truth cannot be removed without threatening our very existence as persons. I am
more or less a person whose dignity is founded on my capacity to grasp the
truth. The more grounded on Truth I am, the more I become myself. In the
assertion, “All human beings desire to know,” Truth is the proper object of
this desire. Thus, this is an existential reality. Man’s capacity to question
is not accidental to his being. It belongs to his nature to be able to ask
questions and arrive at the correct answers to them. St Augustine rightly
observes that “while there are people who try to deceive others, no one wants
to be deceived himself: we inevitably want to know the Truth.”[1]
Having explored the nature of Truth; stating the inevitable
nature of Truth in the nature of man, this Truth in its absoluteness can be
ascribed to God. This is the implicationof Christ’s injunction “I am the way,
the truth and the life” (Jn. 14: 6). However, the search for absolute Truth (God)
is more or less a search for a being to whom we can entrust ourselves. Such is
the ground of our existence. To lose touch with Objective Truth is to lose
touch with the ground of human dignity. It is a denial of humanity and of the
very identity of our essence.
On the another note, Reason (Ratio)the most noble attribute of man, is the specific character
which gives importance that justifies man being a higher being. It is man’s
unique quality of his nature. This is what makes man different from other
beings. Our human dignity is based on the fact that we have reason; even our
political rights and moral duties are grounded in our rationality. Reason is
the main fact that distinguishes man from other animals. Man is called Homo sapiens or Homo rationalis because he is the only animal endowed with reason.
Human reason can apprehend certain truth about reality.
Being a source of knowledge, it is more or less a source of truth since
knowledge implies the truth of what is said to be known. However, Reason is
more or less a resource to knowing the fullness of Truth but that is not to say
that Reason alone can attain Absolute Truth. With reason, we can be able to
affirm the existence of the cause causant of all existent, but we cannot with
reason alone know what God is like. Again, certain mysteries about God cannot
be affirmed through our reason.
Faith (Fides)on
the other hand, involves a stance towards some claim that is not, at least
presently demonstrable by reason. It is a kind of attitude of trust or assent.
As such, it is ordinarily understood to involve an act of will or a commitment
on the part of the believer. On another note, faith generally means trust or
loyalty. It is sometimes used synonymously with belief described as “a state of
mind in which confidence, trust… is placed in a person, idea or thing.”[2]Angeles
opines that Faith is trusting the truth of something which cannot be rationally
or empirically supported. Jacqueline Russ goes further to describe it as a
“free adhesion without proof.”[3]
Just like Reason, with Faith one can be able to apprehend
certain truth about reality. Faith, though as irrational as it may be, gives us
the truth which Reason may not be able to affirm. In other words, through
Faith, we can to an extent know the Divine Reason of all existent. However,
that is not to say that with Faith alone one can know the absolute Truth. In
lending weight to the above position that Faith is a conditio sine qua non for the attainment of Absolute Truth, St
Augustine of Hippo asserts Credo ut
intelligium – I believe in order to understand. By this assertion, he
affirms that Belief (faith) is necessary for him to understand(Truth).
COMPATIBILITY
OF FAITH AND REASON – AN APPROACH TO THE FULLNESS OF TRUTH
From the foregoing, it is evident that neither Reason nor
Faith alone can know the fullness of Truth or Absolute Truth. Over the ages,
many scholars seem to have given up belief in Absolute Truth. For them, since
Reason or Faith as a resource can’t attain Absolute Truth, they cannot but
adopt a sceptical view on the possibility of knowing the fullness of Truth.
However, in the face of the great fear of sceptical nihilism
against Absolute Truth, Saint Pope JohnPaul II calls for recovery of courage in
the search for Absolute Truth. With his splendid encyclical: Fides et Ratio (1998) he calls for a
vigorous renewed commitment to the human search for Absolute Truth and our
conviction of its basic accessibility using two distinct but complimentary
resources: Faith and Reason. He however,
affirms the compatibility of faith and reason as a resource to the attainment
of the fullness of Truth. For him, “Faith and Reason are like two wings on
which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed
in the human heart a desire to know the Truth (God) … so that, by knowing God,
men may also come to the fullness of truth.”[4] In
the same line of thought:
Aquinas
sees reason and faith as two ways of knowing. ‘Reason’ covers what we can know
by experience and logic alone. From reason, we can know that there is a God and
that there is only one God; these truths about God are accessible to anyone by
experience and logic alone, apart from any special revelation from God. ‘Faith’
covers what we can know by God’s special revelation to us (which comes through
the Bible and Christian tradition). By Faith, we can know that God came into
the world through Jesus Christ and that God is triune (Father, Son and Holy
Spirit). These truths about God cannot be known by reason alone. Faith builds
on reason. Since Faith and Reason are both ways of arriving at truth… and since
all truths are harmonious with each other… faith is consistent with reason. If
we understand faith and reason correctly, there will be no conflict between
what faith tells us and what reason tells us.[5]
Furthermore, Absolute Truth is known through the combination
of faith and reason. The absence of either one will diminish man’s ability to
know himself, the world and God. Human reason seeks truth but ultimate Truth
about the meaning of life cannot be found by reason alone. Reason can show that
there is a God and can demonstrate his primary attribute such as his power and
divinity. Reason lays the foundation for faith and where reason stops, faith
continues. Faith without reason withers into myth or superstition. Deprived of
reason, faith is left with only feelings. It loses its universality.
EVALUATION
AND CONCLUSION
Apparently, reason alone cannot know the fullness of truth
because Human reason is inherently weak and inclined to error. Deprived of revelation
(Faith), reason can go off course and miss its destination. In the pursuit for
Absolute Truth, faith proposes truths that might never have been discovered by
unaided reason. Faith and reason, in fact, should be, or are combined together
in the pursuit of the fullness of truth and in the understanding of the
mysteries of Christian Faith. In a nutshell, the idea of Absolute Truth is a
possibility and it can be attained if and only if one employs the aid of Faith
and Reason in its pursuit.
Angeles,
P., Dictionary
of Philosophy. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1981.
John Paul
II, Fides et Ratio - Encyclical
Letter. Vatican City, 1998.
Oredipe,
P.: “The Church’s ‘Diakonia of the truth’ an appraisal of John Paul II’s
Philosophical
Legacy,” in WAJOPS, Vol. 11, 1595-255X, Awka:
Demercury Bright Ltd, 2008.
Russ,
J., Dictionnaire de Philosophie. Paris: Bordas, 1991.
Umoh,
D.: “Philosophical Truth versus
Religious Faith,” in WAJOPS, Vol. 11,
1595-255X, Awka:
Demercury Bright Ltd,
2008.
[1]John Paul II, Fides et Ratio,
Encyclical Letter on the Relationship between Faith and Reason (14 September,
1998), Vatican City, no 25.
[2]P. Angeles, Dictionary of
Philosophy, (New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1981) 26.
[3]J. Russ, Dictionnaire de
Philosophie, (Paris: Bordas, 1991) 111.
[4]John Paul II, op. cit., no
53
[5]Religion A4: Aquinas: Faith
and Reason, www.jcu.edu/philosophy/gensler/RE/R-A4--00.HTM
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