“...only faith gives us access to theological truths.
The ways of God are not open to reason,
for God has freely chosen to create a world
and establish a way of salvation
within it apart from any necessary laws
that human logic or rationality can uncover"
William of Occam (1285-1349)
he is said to be the source of "nominalism"
the instinct to name everything
7 comments:
very appropos
thanks !
should Occam's dates be 1285 to 1349? Or did he live 136 years going backwards in time starting in 1485? What a cool guy!
o OK 1285
i like the idea of reverse time travel however
boy talk about cutting things thin
i thin therfo i almost am
narrowly
i think i'm going blind
time time time time time
jh
Hmm. I disagree with Occam here.
Our minds evolved to understand the world around us, and the world around us is God's creation, and so reflects his purposes.
I would never claim that reason alone suffices to give us faith, but it seems to me that there are theological truths that are accessible via reason through faith. They work together.
Let me propose the theology of the trinity as a case in point. The church fathers began with certain theological premises: the notion of that the entire universe, and us with it, is God's creation; the notion that Jesus was both human and divine, and that his death was nothing less than the death of God at the hands of Man, and his resurrection nothing less than the reassertion of God's primacy; and the notion of the (female) spirit of God (Shekinah) working through us, the divine inspiration for the voice of prophesy. And out of these theological premises, they constructed the theology of the Trinity, as witnessed by the great ecclesiastical creeds, but especially the Nicene-Constantinopolitan and Chalcedonian Creeds.
Let me also note that if Occam is right, then Aquinas is necessarily rubbish. Right?
with apologies stu
for my cyber negligence of late
i've been both geographicaly and cognitively indisposed
occam it would appear was much easier to comprehend than aquinas and thus more or less supplanted the importance of thomas' thought until the 16th century when the jesuits took up the cause of thomism once again (the franciscans even managed to get thomas' writing placed on the index of dangerous works)
and i agree with you
and thomas agrees
reason facilitates the growth in faith reason is essential
and thus even science could in fact be a means for elucidation in the way of faith as sally has recently proposed
the occamists sought to minimize dialectic and keep faith issues and the inquiries in other fields of study more or less separate
some have argued that this turn in epistemology was the cultural and intellectual groundwork for the enlightenment - the "deification" of reason took hold out of a sort of ignorance - the choice for the simpler principle was in fact the choice to limit or divide areas of inquiry - god was not necessary in the unravelling of the scientific method! - a more unified pattern did continue however - the jesuits in particular upheld the thomist predilection for finding god in all experience personal and intellectual
these are truly odd catholic debates - i suppose there are corrolaries in the reformation world
in the truest sense
faith and reason are arm-in-arm like inseparable lovers
like husband and wife
and this bias while being stifled at times in catholic thought
managed to persist throughout time right into and throughout the thought of the present holy father
-he advocates the earlier thomist view...even while leaning at times toward the franciscan bonaventure
tielhard de chardin takes this notion to a new level - he's not so popular these days but he is still recognized as the great epistemological bridgebuilder in 20th century catholic thought
-he was misunderstood for a long time
most great innovative thinkers are
but his redemption will play itself out as the religion-science dialectic continues
of this i am sure
anyway
i'm back in my cell
some blog energy welling forth
amen
jh
jh,
with apologies stu
for my cyber negligence of late
i've been both geographicaly and cognitively indisposed
No need to apologize. We all have lives outside of cyberspace :-). It's a blessing to hear from you again. I just finished a site visit for a major grant, something that I've been working on for more than a year and a half. It has been consuming.
the occamists sought to minimize dialectic and keep faith issues and the inquiries in other fields of study more or less separate
I agree with the Occamist instinct that it is best to simplify. This follows from my logical training: few hypotheses means greater generality. Economical thought is powerful. But what is often forgotten about Ockham's famous quote is the word “unnecessarily.” Ockham's thought was more subtle than his follower's.
There come points when the development of reason can go no further under the rules that it imposes on itself. In particular, reason is often very informative about what we can do, but moot as regards what we should do. Reason can often give us more choices, but it does not necessarily help us rank those choices. Faith can help us rank the choices, but it seldom expands the palette of choices available to us. Reason and faith working together give us more choices, and better discernment. Sometimes, multiplying complexity is necessary.
the hierarchy of knowledge as constructed by tomas d'aquino reasons that science and math are fundamentals - important - necessary for a logical foundation for philosophy
recently we sang a hymn in choir that was all about seeing god in teh splendours and wonders and drama of nature
most essential to a clear concept of the noture of being human is the recognized identity inherent in the intellect which likens us to god
i think occam was wrong on quite a few points
his program was easier to manage than thomas
the angelic doctor
the dumb ox
has yet to be fully exonerated
maybe in heaven
occam i think is still in purgatory
jh
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