Philosophy of The Middle Ages and The Renaissance

The Relationship Between Faith and Reason, Religion and Philosophy in Medieval Philosophy

One of the principal issues in medieval philosophy was the relationship between faith and reason, theology and philosophy. As noted earlier, this problem arose during the period of apologetics, where the approaches to its resolution were mutually exclusive. However, neither of these positions satisfied the Church. The Church could not endorse the stance of Eriugena, who claimed that "any authority not endorsed by true reason is weak," as many tenets of the Bible (including the concepts of the immaculate conception, the death and resurrection of God, etc.) indeed transcend reason. Yet, it could not accept Tertullian’s position, with his principle "I believe because it is absurd," because, firstly, this would exclude many thoughtful individuals who were dissatisfied with mere faith from the Church, and secondly, methodologically, this principle was incomprehensible: Why would God endow humanity with reason, placing it at the pinnacle of creation, if reason could say nothing about God?

The classical resolution to this problem is found in the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). Aquinas, the son of an Italian count, chose to become a Dominican monk against his parents’ wishes and studied in Cologne and Paris under the prominent figure of mature scholasticism, Albert the Great. His mission was to reconcile the philosophy of Aristotle, which had by then become known in the medieval context, with Christian religion. Initially, the Church approached Aquinas’s works with caution, distrustful of Aristotle's philosophy with its emphasis on reason, but after his death, he was honored with the title "Angelic Doctor" and was canonized in 1323; his philosophy subsequently became the official philosophy of the Catholic Church. To this day, the teachings of Aquinas are recognized by the Catholic Church as the only true philosophy.

Aquinas distinguishes between "truths of reason" and "truths of revelation," delineating the domains of philosophy and theology. Since, ultimately, the source of truth is God, these truths cannot contradict one another. However, human reason is limited in time and space; it engages with the phenomena of the objective world, thereby restricting its judgment and leaving many truths of revelation beyond its grasp. This does not imply that the truths of revelation, which are beyond reason, are irrational; they are simply supra-rational. Therefore, when philosophy conflicts with theology, it must yield and reconcile its conclusions with the latter. It is worth noting that, according to Aquinas, the object of knowledge in both domains is one—God. However, reason cannot address the essence of God, although it is not powerless regarding the question of God's existence.

Of course, the question of God's existence is primarily a matter of faith. Yet, for an unbeliever, reason may provide indirect proofs of God's existence through analogical conclusions. In this context, Aquinas does not support the so-called ontological proof of God's existence put forth by Anselm of Canterbury. Anselm asserted that we possess the idea of God as the idea of absolute Perfection, and since absolute Perfection cannot be conceived without existence, God must exist. In Aquinas’s view, only indirect proofs of God's existence are valid, and he presents five such proofs.

The first two proofs are similar. The first proof is based on the existence of motion in the world, which arises from an external influence; tracing this chain backward must lead us to an Unmoved Mover, whom we call God. The second proof asserts that changes in the world must have an external cause, and since the chain of causes cannot be infinite, there must be a First Cause, which we call God.

The third proof posits that every entity on Earth is contingent. However, it cannot be assumed that everything in the world is contingent; therefore, there must exist a being that is absolutely necessary, whom we call God. The fourth proof is founded on the existence of various degrees of perfection in the world. All phenomena exhibit differing degrees of perfection, and thus differing degrees of being. This is only possible if there exists an absolutely perfect being, whom we call God.

The fifth proof is teleological in nature. Aquinas states that the world is ordered and purposeful. All phenomena, especially living beings, strive for the better, either consciously or instinctively. However, this order cannot be explained solely by natural causes; we must posit a supernatural rational being that accounts for this purposefulness, and we call this being God.

Thus, according to Thomas Aquinas, faith and reason should interact in such a manner that reason, through its capabilities, provides faith with arguments for its truth, and this thesis becomes the official principle governing the relationship between faith and reason, religion and philosophy.