Philosophy vs. Religion

[Mendalla]

Philosophy and religion often occupy similar ground, esp. these days when "natural philosophy" has given way to science, leaving philosophy primarily concerned with things like ethics and meaning. They have even influence each other over the centuries. You can find traces of Plato and Aristotle in many Christian thinkers while Christian thinker Kierkegaard influenced, and is considered part of, philosophical existentialism. And so on. Theology is, in many regards, the application of philosophical methods such as logic to religious problems and there have been thinkers regarded as both theologians and philosophers.

Are they interchangeable, though? Can one live a life based on a non-religious philosophy where faith in God and values drawn from religious texts and teachings are replaced by reasoning, logic, and following the tenets of one or more philosophers/schools of philosophy?

Or is it more that they complement each other? Can a faith in God be supplemented or complemented by philosophical inquiry and reasoning?

I ask because I'm currently in a more philosophical frame of mind than I have been in a while and am likely going to be looking back at some philosophers that have influenced my thinking over the years (e.g. Epicurus and his successors), leaving theology and religious writing behind for a while.

 

[Hermann]

Can one live a life based on a non-religious philosophy where faith in God and values drawn from religious texts and teachings are replaced by reasoning, logic, and following the tenets of one or more philosophers/schools of philosophy?

Or is it more that they complement each other? Can a faith in God be supplemented or complemented by philosophical inquiry and reasoning?

It all depends what "faith in God" is?

If it is unquestioning belief in a religious doctrine, then it is just a "blind" belief in the absolute truth of a religious philosophy. If, however, "faith" is an experience, particularly an experience that can't be put into words, then such an experience is beyond logic or reason, but not beyond the tenets of a philosophical system, because some philosophical systems teach exactly the seeking of such an experience in order to find one's answers.

To me, faith is experiential. My faith is beyond words, although I do use words to explain it. But those words are speculative and/or metaphorical. This being said, my experience of faith evokes in me feelings of unity and unitive love, which fit the basic tenets of Christianity and Buddhism and many other religions.

 

[Inukshuk]

I don't think they are interchangeable because religion has rituals - (which I happen to like - especially the community rituals) Philosophy allows for critical thinking - which sadly many religions deny. That said, for me, they do complement each other.

 

[revjohn]

Are they interchangeable, though?

No they are not interchangeable. I think that they function like heart and lungs. Without both the body is in trouble. Both are organs through which all of our blood passes. Only the heart pumps and only the lungs oxygenate. If you choose one over the other you only live long enough to regret such a poor choice.

At risk of over-simplifying. Philosophy is concerned with how to think whereas religion is concerned with how to act.

Much like the lungs-heart relationship if we opt for one over the other we create the abominations of thoughtful inactivity or thoughtless action.

 

[Hermann]

Hi Inuk:

Rituals are meant to evoke that spiritual feeling of awe, of universal oneness, of unity and community, that we associate with the practice of religion. Unfortunately, rituals also tend to re-enforce unquestioning belief in the doctrines or dogmas of one's religion. As you said, religions traditionally encouraged imitative thinking and discouraged critical thinking. Some of the more progressive denominations, however, are trying to get away from that.

Throughout human history, it was the mystics of the various religions who bridged the gap between religion and philosophy, religion and science, and also between the various religions. Mystics typically experience, as well as intellectually realize, the unity of being -- and of all beings -- and thus are aware of the common ground between the various religions. They tell us that the differences between the various religions are due to cultural differences in outwardly expressing the common ground.

Many, if not most, philosophical systems are rooted in a spiritual feeling, and are of a spiritual nature. Most religious founders have borrowed at least some ideas from the prevailing philosophies of their culture. My granddaughter just completed her Master Thesis on the Stoic influences on St. Paul. She found numerous passages in Paul's Letters that are almost direct quotes from the writings of preeminent Stoic thinkers of his time, like, for instance, the famous Roman Stoic, Seneca. She suggests that Paul himself may have been a Stoic prior to his conversion, and that he took some Stoic thinking over into the religion he founded. (Most of the so-called "Hellenistic Jews" embraced one or more of the various philosophies of the Grecco-Roman world.)

The oldest known spiritual writings of humanity, the Vedas, have inspired philosophers, religionists and scientists alike. During the Golden Age of Arabic culture, which paralleled the early Middle Ages of Western Culture, Sufi mystics founded mathematical and scientific theories that have held true to this day. Similarly, Christian monasteries were our early repositories of scientific knowledge. In the Christian West, science was first practiced and many scientific principles founded in monasteries. The "ora" in the "ora et labora" principle of Chtristian monks meant meditation or contemplation, or contemplative, meditative or "centering" prayer.

Mystics, for the most part, were also critical and rational thinkers, and often were at odds with the rigid dogmatism of their religions. They generally regarded the mythologies of their religion as metaphorical. They believed that, in addition to meditation and contemplation, logical inquiry, the scientfic method of today, was the best method to discern truth.

 

[Mendalla]

I did a paper for my class on Islam (a senior bachelor's course in Religious Studies) on the Islamic Neo-Platonists. The Muslims preserved a lot of Greek thought that was lost or ignored in Europe and that led to a surge of interest in classical philosophy among their thinkers (and the philosophical traditions among the Sufis were part of that) well before the Renaissance triggered a similar resurgence in Europe. The research was fascinating, to say the least, and even the prof was a bit surprised by what I found (he was not actually Muslim, but Greek Orthodox, though his knowledge of Islam was prodigious).

 

[Hermann]

Yes, Mendalla, a lot of ancient Greek thought had become lost to the medieval Christian West, but was preserved by Muslims, and re-entered Christian thought through the Muslim world. When medieval Christian scholars like Moerbecke and Aquinas tried to reconcile Aristotelian thought with Christian thought, Aristotle had become known to them through Christian contacts with the Arabic culture! Arabic writings from the Golden Age of Arabic culture re-familiarized the Christian West with what originally had been Western thought!!!

 

[Waterfall]

I love philosophy and the questions that arise from it but I also love the questions that challenge us through religion. Both offer an exploration and growth into our being, existence and purpose to our lives. Sometimes one discipline will push the other in order to challenge us further and offer a continuous growth so we are always seekers and never all knowing.

 

[Hermann]

Good answer, Waterfall! I can't help but agree.

 

[Waterfall]

Lately I've been reading about the Assyrian Church of the East, not to be confused with the Greek Orthodox Church. I've been curious about churches that existed in the times of the apostles and the fact that this church received Peter's blessing. Why? This church also still exists today in small areas and proclaims an independence from the Roman Catholic Church.

So yes, always searching, and history offers some explanations and interesting facts.

 

[Hermann]

Are they the ones who still speak Aramaic?

 

[Waterfall]

Yes