Western Ideologies and Dilemma of Faith and Reason
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31305/rrjiks.2025.v2.n2.023Keywords:
Faith, Reason, Philosophy of Religion, Fideism, Revelation, Rationalism, Aquinas (Thomas Aquinas), Dual Truth, Religious Knowledge, MetaphysicsAbstract
In this paper, the philosophical debate and tension between reason and faith is discussed throughout the history of Western philosophy. Ever since the earliest philosophical questions, rationality and the belief have often interacted to inform the meaning of truth and life. The work discusses main historical lines of thought, such as fideism, rationalism, dual truth theory, and reconciling views of Augustine, Anselm, and Aquinas among others. In such a way, five different answers to the faith-reason dilemma are examined: rejection of reason, rejection of faith, making the two mutually incompatible, considering religion as a rational hypothesis, and reconciliation of them. It is highlighted in the paper that it is true that reason aims at demanding empirical verification but in many cases, faith transcends the boundaries of rationality hence an idea that, revelation might be needed in religion to provide truth that cannot be rationalized. The book eventually contends that faith and reason do not lead mutually to the exclusion of each other but they can be parallel sources of truth. A balanced interpretation of taking into consideration both the spiritual faith and intellectual rumination is what the paper demands using historical analysis and philosophical inputs.
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