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''''Faith and rationality''' are two ideologies that exist in varying degrees of conflict or compatibility. [[Rationality]] is based on [[reason]] or [[facts]]. [[Faith]] is belief in [[Biblical inspiration|inspiration]], [[revelation]], or [[authority]]. The word ''faith'' usually refers to a belief that is held with lack of, in spite of or against [[reason]] or [[evidence]], while another position holds that it can refer to belief based upon a degree of evidential warrant. Although the words ''faith'' and ''belief'' are sometimes erroneously conflated{{Citation needed|date=January 2014}} and used as synonyms, ''faith'' properly refers to a particular type (or subset) of ''belief,'' as defined above. Broadly speaking, there are two categories of views regarding the relationship between faith and rationality: #[[Rationalism]] holds that [[truth]] should be determined by [[reason]] and factual analysis, rather than faith, [[dogma]], tradition or religious teaching. #[[Fideism]] holds that faith is necessary, and that beliefs may be held without any evidence or reason and even in conflict with evidence and reason. The [[Catholic Church]] also has taught that [[faith]] and [[reason]] can and must work together, in the [[Papal encyclical]] letter issued by [[Pope]] [[John Paul II]], ''[[Fides et Ratio]]'' ("[On] Faith and Reason"). ==Relationship between faith and reason== From at least the days of the Greek Philosophers, the relationship between faith and reason has been hotly debated. [[Plato]] argued that knowledge is simply memory of the eternal. [[Aristotle]] set down rules by which knowledge could be discovered by reason. Rationalists point out that many people hold irrational beliefs, for many reasons. There may be evolutionary causes for irrational beliefs — irrational beliefs may increase our ability to survive and reproduce. Or, according to [[Pascal's Wager]], it may be to our advantage to have faith, because faith may promise infinite rewards, while the rewards of reason are seen by many as finite. One more reason for irrational beliefs can perhaps be explained by operant conditioning. For example, in one study by [[B. F. Skinner]] in 1948, pigeons were awarded grain at regular time intervals regardless of their behaviour. The result was that each of pigeons developed their own idiosyncratic response which had become associated with the consequence of receiving grain.<ref name=Skinner>{{cite journal|last=Skinner|first=B. F.|title='Superstition' in the pigeon.|journal=Journal of Experimental Psychology|date=1 January 1948|volume=38|issue=2|pages=168–172|doi=10.1037/h0055873|pmid=18913665}}</ref> Believers in faith — for example those who believe salvation is possible through faith alone — frequently suggest that everyone holds beliefs arrived at by faith, not reason.{{Citation needed|date=January 2014}} The belief that the universe is a sensible place and that our minds allow us to arrive at correct conclusions about it, is a belief we hold through faith. Rationalists contend that this is arrived at because they have observed the world being consistent and sensible, not because they have faith that it is. Beliefs held "by faith" may be seen existing in a number of relationships to rationality: * '''Faith as underlying rationality''': In this view, all human [[knowledge]] and reason is seen as dependent on [[faith]]: faith in our senses, faith in our [[reason]], faith in our [[Memory|memories]], and faith in the accounts of events we receive from others. Accordingly, faith is seen as essential to and inseparable from rationality. According to [[René Descartes]], rationality is built first upon the realization of the absolute truth "[[Cogito ergo sum|I think therefore I am]]", which requires no faith. All other rationalizations are built outward from this realization, and are subject to [[Falsifiability|falsification]] at any time with the arrival of new evidence. * '''Faith as addressing issues beyond the scope of rationality''': In this view, faith is seen as covering issues that science and rationality are inherently incapable of addressing, but that are nevertheless entirely real. Accordingly, faith is seen as complementing rationality, by providing answers to questions that would otherwise be unanswerable. * '''Faith as contradicting rationality''': In this view, faith is seen as those views that one holds despite evidence and reason to the contrary. Accordingly, faith is seen as pernicious with respect to rationality, as it interferes with our ability to think, and inversely rationality is seen as the enemy of faith by interfering with our beliefs. * '''Faith and reason as essential together''': This is the Catholic view that faith without reason leads to [[superstition]], while [[reason]] without [[faith]] leads to [[nihilism]] and [[relativism]]. * '''Faith as based on warrant''': In this view some degree of evidence provides warrant for faith. "To explain great things by small."<ref>{{cite book|last=Hawker|first=Robert|title=Poor Man's Commentary|year=1805|pages=Hebrews 11}}</ref> ==Views of the Roman Catholic Church== [[Thomas Aquinas|St. Thomas Aquinas]], the most important [[Doctor of the Church#Catholicism|doctor of the Catholic Church]], was the first to write a full treatment of the relationship, differences, and similarities between faith—an intellectual assent<ref>"[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05752c.htm Faith]" from the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]''</ref>—and reason,<ref>"[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12673b.htm Reason]" from the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]''</ref> predominately in his ''[[Summa Theologica]]'', ''[[De Veritate (Thomas Aquinas)|De Veritate]]'', and ''[[Summa contra Gentiles]]''.<ref>For an overview—with copious quotes from [[Thomas Aquinas|St. Thomas Aquinas]]'s works, some of which are quoted here—of his exposition of the topic of faith and reason, consult [http://web.archive.org/web/20120323175836/http://www.truthinspire.com/reason-and-faith/ this summary].</ref> The [[Council of Trent]]'s [[catechism]]—the ''[[Roman Catechism]]'', written during the Catholic Church's [[Counter-Reformation]] to combat [[Protestantism]] and [[Martin Luther]]'s antimetaphysical tendencies.<ref>[http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BeckerFaith.pdf Faith and Reason in Martin Luther]</ref><ref>On the differences between [[Thomas Aquinas]]'s conception of faith and reason and that of [[Martin Luther]].{{cite journal|journal=[http://www.thomist.org/journal/explore.htm The Thomist]|title=Faith and Reason Reconsidered: Aquinas and Luther on Deciding What is True|author=Bruce D. Marshall|year=1999|volume=63|pages=1–48|url=http://www.thomist.org/journal/1999/991aMars.htm|accessdate=2011-05-11}}</ref> ''[[Dei Filius]]'' was a [[dogmatic constitution]] of the [[First Vatican Council]] on the [[Roman Catholic]] faith. It was adopted unanimously on 24 April 1870 and was influenced by the philosophical conceptions of [[Johann Baptist Franzelin]], who had written a great deal on the topic of faith and rationality.<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds2.v.ii.i.html#v.ii.i-p21.5 ''Dei Filius'' cap. 4]</ref> Because the Roman Catholic Church does not disparage reason in preference to faith, there have been many [[List of Roman Catholic cleric–scientists|Catholic scientists]] over the ages. Twentieth-century [[Thomism|Thomist]] philosopher [[Étienne Gilson]] [http://www.u.arizona.edu/~aversa/scholastic/gilson/ wrote about faith and reason] in his 1922 book [https://archive.org/details/lethomismeintrod01gilsuoft ''Le Thomisme''].<ref>"[http://www.u.arizona.edu/~aversa/scholastic/gilson/ Faith & Reason]" from [[Étienne Gilson]]'s [https://archive.org/details/lethomismeintrod01gilsuoft ''Le Thomisme''].</ref> His contemporary [[Jacques Maritain]] wrote about it in his [https://archive.org/details/DegreesOfKnowledge ''The Degrees of Knowledge'']. ''[[Fides et Ratio]]'' is an encyclical promulgated by Pope John Paul II on 14 September 1998. It deals with the relationship between faith and reason. [[Pope Benedict XVI]]'s 12 September 2006 [[Regensburg Lecture]] was about faith and reason. ==Lutheran epistemology== {{unsourced|section|date=April 2015}} Some have asserted that [[Martin Luther]] taught that faith and reason were antithetical in the sense that questions of faith could not be illuminated by reason. Contemporary Lutheran scholarship however has found a different reality in Luther. Luther rather seeks to separate faith and reason in order to honor the separate spheres of knowledge that each understand. Bernhard Lohse for example has demonstrated in his classic work "Fides Und Ratio" that Luther ultimately sought to put the two together. More recently [[Hans-Peter Grosshans]] has demonstrated that Luther's work on Bibilical Criticism stresses the need for external coherence in right exegetical method. This means that for Luther it is more important that the Bible be reasonable according to the reality outside of the scriptures than that the Bible make sense to itself, that it has internal coherence. The right tool for understanding the world outside of the Bible for Luther is none other than Reason which for Luther denoted science, philosophy, history and empirical observation. Here a differing picture is presented of a Luther who deeply valued both faith and reason, and held them in dialectical partnership. Luther's concern thus in separating them is honoring their different epistemological spheres. ==Reformed epistemology== ===Faith as underlying rationality=== The view that faith underlies all rationality holds that rationality is dependent on faith for its coherence. Under this view, there is no way to comprehensively ''prove'' that we are actually seeing what we appear to be seeing, that what we remember actually happened, or that the laws of logic and mathematics are actually real. Instead, all beliefs depend for their coherence on ''faith'' in our senses, memory, and reason, because the foundations of rationalism cannot be proven by evidence or reason. Rationally, you can not prove anything you see is real, but you can prove that you yourself are real, and rationalist belief would be that you can believe that the world is consistent until something demonstrates inconsistency. This differs from faith based belief, where you believe that your world view is consistent no matter what inconsistencies the world has with your beliefs. ===Rationalist point of view=== In this view, there are many beliefs that are held by faith alone, that rational thought would force the mind to reject. As an example, many people believe in the Biblical story of Noah's flood: that the entire Earth was covered by water for forty days. But objected that most plants cannot survive being covered by water for that length of time, a boat of that magnitude could not have been built by wood, and there would be no way for two of every animal to survive on that ship and migrate back to their place of origin. (such as penguins), Although Christian apologists offer answers to these and such issues,<ref>{{cite web|last=Ham|first=Ken|title=Was There Really a Noah's Ark & Flood?|url=http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/really-a-flood-and-ark|work=Answers in Genesis|accessdate=23 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Wright|first=David|title=How Did Plants Survive the Flood?|url=http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v7/n1/how-did-plants-survive-flood|work=Answers in Genesis|accessdate=23 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=How did animals get from the Ark to isolated places..|url=http://christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-c006.html|work=Christian Answers Network|accessdate=23 January 2014}}</ref> under the premise that such responses are insufficient, one must choose between accepting the story on faith and rejecting reason, or rejecting the story by reason and thus rejecting faith. Within the rationalist point of view, there remains the possibility of multiple rational explanations. For example, considering the biblical story of Noah's flood, one making rational determinations about the probability of the events does so via interpretation of modern evidence. Two observers of the story may provide different plausible explanations for the life of plants, construction of the boat, species living at the time, and migration following the flood. Some see this as meaning that a person is not strictly bound to choose between faith and reason. ==Evangelical views== American biblical scholar [[Archibald Thomas Robertson]] stated that the Greek word ''pistis'' used for faith in the New Testament (over two hundred forty times), and rendered "assurance" in Acts 17:31 (KJV), is "an old verb to furnish, used regularly by Demosthenes for bringing forward evidence."<ref>{{cite book|last=Robertson|first=Archibald Thomas|title=WORD PICTURES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT|pages=Chapter 17|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/robertson_at/wp_acts.xviii.html}}</ref> Likewise Tom Price (Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics) affirms that when the New Testament talks about faith positively it only uses words derived from the Greek root [pistis] which means "to be persuaded."<ref>{{cite web|last=Price|first=Thomas|title=Faith is about 'just trusting' God isn't It?|url=http://www.bethinking.org/bible-jesus/introductory/faith-is-about-just-trusting-god-isnt-it.htm|accessdate=23 January 2014}}</ref> In contrast to faith meaning blind trust, in the absence of evidence, even in the teeth of evidence, [[Alister McGrath]] quotes Oxford Anglican theologian W. H. Griffith-Thomas, (1861-1924), who states faith is "not blind, but intelligent" and "commences with the conviction of the mind based on adequate evidence...", which McGrath sees as "a good and reliable definition, synthesizing the core elements of the characteristic Christian understanding of faith."<ref>{{cite book|last=McGrath|first=Alister E.|title=The Order of Things: Explorations in Scientific Theology|year=2008|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=140512556X|page=33|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=WrRZBOxJzDcC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref> [[Alvin Plantinga]] upholds that faith may be the result of evidence testifying to the reliability of the source of truth claims, but although it may involve this, he sees faith as being the result of hearing the truth of the gospel with the internal persuasion by the Holy Spirit moving and enabling him to believe. "Christian belief is produced in the believer by the internal instigation of the Holy Spirit, endorsing the teachings of Scripture, which is itself divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit. The result of the work of the Holy Spirit is faith."<ref>{{cite book|last=Plantinga|first=Alvin|title=Warranted Christian Belief|year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=USA|isbn=0195131924|pages=250, 291}}</ref> ==Jewish philosophy== The 14th Century Jewish philosopher [[Levi ben Gerson]] tried to reconcile faith and reason. He wrote, "The Torah cannot prevent us from considering to be true that which our reason urges us to believe."<ref>Jewish Encyclopedia, volume VIII, page 29</ref> His contemporary [[Hasdai ben Abraham Crescas]] argued the contrary view, that reason is weak and faith strong, and that only through faith can we discover the fundamental truth that God is love, that through faith alone can we endure the suffering that is the common lot of God's chosen people. ==See also== * [[Panrationalism]] * [[Fides et Ratio|Faith and Reason (''Fides et Ratio'')]] * [[Atheists in foxholes]] * [[Asa Gray]] * [[Søren Kierkegaard]] * [[William Alston]] * [[Alvin Plantinga]] * [[Cornelius Van Til]] * [[Richard Dawkins]] * [[Leo Strauss]] * [[Faith and Philosophy]] * [[Reformed epistemology]] * [[Non-overlapping magisteria]] * [[Presuppositional apologetics]] * [[Theory of justification]] * [[Methods of obtaining knowledge]] * [[Relationship between religion and science]] * [[Theory of everything (philosophy)]] * [[Value (personal and cultural)]] ==References== {{Reflist|2}} ==External links== ===Apologetics and philosophical justifications of faith as rational=== * ''[http://www.faithandreason.org/ FaithandReason.org]''&mdash;nondenominational website advocating that faith and reason can work together (D.L. Dykes, Jr. Foundation). * ''[http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2002240 Should Faith Be Based On Reason?]'' Jehovah's Witnesses' view of how faith is dependent on reason. ===Neutral critiques and analysis=== *[http://www.leaderu.com/offices/koons/docs/chrphlec17.html Lecture on The Rationality of Religious Belief] Contemporary Christian Philosophy, University of Texas *[http://pantheon.yale.edu/~kd47/basic.htm Are Christian Beliefs Properly Basic?] A critical examination of Alvin Plantinga's claim that Christian beliefs can be justified even without any evidence for them by Keith DeRose, Professor of Philosophy, Yale University *[http://patentlyjewish.com/folly-of-faith-folly-of-reason-isaac-asimov-judaism/ Folly of Faith, Folly of Reason] Examination of science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov's view in "Reason" and discussion of faith and reason in Asimov's cultural tradition of Judaism ===Criticisms of the belief that faith is rational=== *[http://importanceofphilosophy.com/Irrational_Faith.html Irrational Faith] importanceofphilosophy.com *[http://importanceofphilosophy.com/Irrational_Main.html Irrational Epistemology] importanceofphilosophy.com ===Historical overview === *[http://www.iep.utm.edu/f/faith-re.htm Faith and Reason] Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy {{Epistemology}} {{Philosophy of religion}} {{Philosophy of science}} {{Philosophy topics}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Faith And Rationality}} [[Category:Epistemology of religion]] [[Category:Atheism]] [[Category:Religion and science]] [[Category:Religious belief and doctrine]] [[Category:Philosophy of religion]]'