Introduction
Faith and reason have since time immemorial been regarded as means of justifying people’s beliefs. The two concepts have attracted a lot of attention especially from philosophers and theologians mainly because they both can be effectively used to serve the justification role mentioned. Most scholars in the field have accepted that the two ideologies are intertwined in such a way that they can neither conflict nor exist independent of each other. This essay seeks to illustrate that faith and reason are essential constituents of human existence. To this end an argument shall be provided drawing from various philosophical texts to support the conclusion that it is impossible to be human without faith and reason. The essay shall follow a methodological philosophical argument framework, by first providing working definitions of both reason and faith. After this, a brief detailing of the various viewpoints from which various scholars have angled their discussions on the relationship between the two concepts shall be provided. Finally, a detailed discussion shall be made to illustrate why and how the concepts of faith and religion are important to the concept of being human, before a conclusion is provided to summarize the whole essay.
Identification of Faith and Reason from a Historical Point of View
Reason basically comprises a methodological way of consultation into one’s intellect for moral or religious justification of various actions taken (Wolterstorff 1998). Reason has to follow a method of inquiry that can easily be demonstrated within a given level of authority. Faith on the other hand comprises a mind-frame positioning to an ideology that cannot be demonstrated using claims that can be confirmed true. Faith is therefore can be said to be based on the trust of a certain occurrence rather on logical thought patterns (Wolterstorff 1998). Faith has over various discussions come to be presented as directly linked to being human. With humans constantly drawing on faith to chart out paths for their day to day living including drawing inspiration to keep them happy, Garelick’s (1965) conclusion that being human is being interested in eternal happiness can be affirmed. Historically, faith has been directly linked to religion whereby religion is the appreciation and belief in the existence of a supreme deity (God). According to Hume (2008, p.8) even during the most primitive and ignorant of ages, the existence and presence of God was well appreciated. This means that faith has always been an aspect of human life and it would be illogical to try and disassociate the two. Various philosophical scholars including Derrida (1998), De Vries (2008), Haught (1990) and Schleiermacher & Oman (1994) have in their literary pieces tried to show the connection between their personal vision of religion and its relation to human existence.
Faith can be classified into two groups (Hume 2008). These are religious and non religious. Non-religious faith does not depend or incline to beliefs about the existence of a supreme being who controls each and every aspect of life. Religious faith, on the other hand is based on the doctrines of the particular religion that an individual practices. Religious faith is classified into two groups depending on how concepts are drawn. These two groups are evidence sensitive and evidence insensitive. Evidence-sensitive religious faith holds that faith is directly linked to truths that can be demonstrated. Evidence-insensitive faith view faith as a willful act of the person. It is however worth noting that an individual can subscribe to a given religious belief based on faith or reason alone.
From the conclusions arrived at, it is easy to deduce that irrespective of their religious inclinations, they all came to the agreement that faith is an important aspect of human life and without it, the latter cannot be said to be complete.
The Interaction of Faith and Reason
In order to understand how reason and faith influence human beings, we must first appreciate the relationship between the two concepts (i.e faith and reason) particularly in regards to the interpretations by various scholars. Faith and reason are the primary components of human cognition (Fisher and Ramsay 2004). In this analysis we shall try to explore the two ideologies from various view points. First, we shall to illustrate the possibility of faith existing without reason. Secondly, we shall try to present faith as the foundation of reason before we analyze the harmony between faith and reason (James 1927). Finally, we shall review the relationship between faith and reason, illustrating how the two concepts are definitively different but are fundamentally related to each other (Kenny 1983). The above arguments shall be made whilst drawing examples from the works of various philosophy scholars.
Study of the Issue by Scientists
Purporting that faith can exist without religion basically suggests that in human living, faith is given exclusive prominence when laid side by side with reason. This argument was supported by philosophers such as Tertullian, Kant and Kirkegaard (Hannay 2003). Tertullian, in particular, was extremely against reason and was even quoted saying that schools and the church should be regarded as completely independent institutions (Hannay 2003). Tertullian and fellow philosophers who supported this argument basically sought to establish the dominance of religion over other aspects of human living and even when confronted with evidence to the contrary, they ended up arguing passionately from a religious (Christian) point of view. According to him, trying to relate the two institutions was completely absurd.
In the second view, reason is given some slight appreciation. This is however realized as long as faith is taken as the foundation on which reason is built (Swinburne 2005). In other words, this argument means that reason can only operate only within the confines of faith. The various scholars who supported this argument include Anselm of Canterbury and Barth. The two philosophers are well known for their suggestion that individuals believe so that they may understand (Swinburne 2005). Anselm’s studies include an effort to prove the existence of God without applying reason. Later day scholars came to prove that his ontological study was grounded on reason but when confronted with the evidence, the philosopher argued that his reasoning stemmed from his faith and not the other way round (Wippel 1995). Barth also affirmed Anselm’s argument on the relationship between faith and reason.
The third viewpoint was supported by scholars such as Spinoza and Leibniz. The two scholars to a great extent appreciated the importance of reason and supported the argument that the two concepts were related in such a way that they were mutually beneficial (Derrida 1998). The philosophers concluded that reason comes in handy to understand the intricacies of faith and they argued that reason can take up the role of faith in such a way that individuals could function properly without the latter (Mander 2008). This viewpoint has been well supported, particularly by contemporary scholars, most of whom could not bring themselves to support any particular religion or religious viewpoint.
The final viewpoint was particularly presented by Thomas Aquinas. By accepting that reason and faith were independent concepts, he came to the conclusion that reason could be used to prove the existence of God (McKinnon 2008). He arrived at the conclusion that reason comes before faith by offering grounds for natural theology (McKinnon 2008). Once Faith has kicked as an aspect of revealed theology, reason again comes in to explain the deductions. This means the two concepts are not contradictory but are instead complimentary, in the sense that they are helpful to each other (Camus 1995).
The third viewpoint which suggests that faith and reason are interdependent holds more water and has been appreciated by most of the latter-day philosophers. This is therefore the argument which shall be used to guide the development of this essay (Fisher and Ramsay 2004).
Nye (2008), a philosophy scholar deduced that aspects such as gender, culture and power have some significant ties with religion. Gender, culture and power are social and biological aspects that can be used to draw an understanding of humans (Nye 2008). As had been mentioned earlier, religion is primarily founded on faith. This relation of contemporary aspects of human living with faith categorically (Polanyi 1961) implies that the two are to some extent symbiotic in the sense that the existence of one depends on the existence of the other (Nash 1994). In other words, this means that faith cannot be manifest without humans and that humans cannot fully exist without factoring in the faith component. Individuals are basically who they are, based on their belief systems and more often than not the actions of persons can be directly associated with how they choose to manifest their faith (Fisher and Ramsay 2004). For instance, a serial killer who claims his actions are as a result of belonging to a particular cult cannot be said to exist as an evil human without factoring in the aspect of his faith. In this sense, it can be said that the killer’s faith makes the man. Reason also plays a great role in defining a person’s character. Drawing from the example of a cult serial killer, it can be said that the person, before joining the cult, may have analyzed both the pros and the cons and using various reasoning strategies concluded that subscribing to the faith-based practices of the religious group would be beneficial to him.
Another scholar that has carried out extensive research on the topic of faith and religion in relation to human living is Bass (2010). In his studies, he has been able to concentrate on various issues that play a critical role in human life and illustrated how they are linked with morality and faith. These included their thought patterns and he tried to show how the process of reasoning is crucial in explaining the human nature. His findings were supported by Van Pitte (1980) who cited the work of ther philosopher, Descartes who purported that “reason can be autonomous only if what it identifies as true is entirely unassailable” (p. 344). This means that reason can generally not exist independent of other aspects of human life such as reason and faith. Individuals have to find a way of balancing faith and reason in the light of other characteristics in order to be said to be entirely human. Smith (1998a, b) presents the flow of thoughts in the process of reasoning and provides a detailed discussion illustrating how faith and reasoning influence each other. Coupled with Hannay’s (2003, p.16) study on Emmanuel Kant’s work in explaining the concept of reason, Smith’s illustration arrives at the conclusion that reason stems down from free will; a characteristic that is fundamentally human. This goes a long way in confirming that human beings can completely attribute their existence to faith and reason.
From various studies on human beings and personality development, the aspects of family and education have been linked to the development of faith (Robers 1962). Individuals generally pick their religious tendencies from the senior members of their families. It can actually be said that faith is one of the primary traits that individuals inherit from their parents. In cases where the beliefs and reasoning frameworks of children clash with those of their parents, disagreement ensues and this leads to disharmony in society. This therefore implies that faith is an aspect of religion and reason are important constituents of human societal living to such an extent that the two aspects determine basic human relations (Nye 2008).
Faith and reason are conceptually linked to the knowledge of universal truths otherwise known as wisdom (Rogers 1866). These truths include knowledge of both good and evil as well as the truth of reality. The more an individual is able to understand these truths, the more he/she is able to develop and understanding of him/herself (Bergman 1963). This basically implies that for a proper understanding of the concept of humanity, a critical analysis of both faith and reason has to be carried out. This is particularly because as individuals grow up and develop well established reasoning patterns they find themselves in a position to draw on their faith both learned and innate to explain the complexities of human life. David Hume (2008) in his studies on natural religion came to the conclusion that the characters of human beings are basically modeled around their belief systems, in a way illustrating that reason and faith are fundamental in explaining human behavior.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that faith and reason are the most important determinants of both human character and the choices they make in regards daily living. The two concepts as much as they operate in different ways cannot operate without them being present concurrently. This means that trying to argue that a certain person makes decisions and partakes in actions defined by either reason or faith alone generally implies that the person in reference is not completely human. This essay has drawn from the works of various scholars and philosophers to support the argument that one cannot be human without reason and faith. The interplay of the two aspects particularly in relation to how individuals function is society has been well illustrated. To some extent this presentation may appear biased in the sense that it has focused on scholars who supported the main conclusion but even with this it has effectively established even in the face of opposing arguments, the current conclusion still stands.
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