Contribution of J. H. Newman in resolving the problem of relation between faith and reason
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15291/ai.1233Keywords:
assent, faith, formal reasoning, informal reasoning, Newman, J. H., reasonAbstract
The question of relation between faith and reason is amongst the oldest philosophical questions and throughout the history of philosophy many thinkers tried to answer it. Some gave precedence to reason over faith, others gave precedence to faith over reason, while some perceived the relation to be based on complementarity and harmony. Among this last group of thinkers wefind a distinguished English thinker J. H. Newman, whose understanding and contribution to the above mentioned question will be presented in this article. The question of relation of faith to reason can easily be described as one of the most important questions of Newman`s philosophical thought. He studied it within two philosophical disciplines: epistemology and philosophy of religion. To Newman faith was a specific human act which, as such, had rational character and he considered reason be a faculty which can minister faith in two basic ways: it can help believer to understand what he believes in and it can also partially help a person to assent to supernatural truths by allowing it to see that there are no rational obstacles in accepting reveled truths. This article will also introduce us to Newman`s understanding of the role the reason has to play in apprehending and accepting mysteries, and with Newman`s division of reasoning into formal and informal. While studying the latter kind we will see his original understanding of the special role which informal or implicit reasoning plays in assent to supernatural truths, and his clear distinction between physiological and logical structure of the process of reasoning thanks to which Newman was able to show that the formal reasoning is not the only kind of rational reasoning, and there for it is not the only measure of rationality of assent.
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