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Self knowledge is not simply introspection Self knowledge requires the knowing of the reality that surrounds us The

Church helps to clarify this search for truth because she is the diakonia of Truth
Her truths are revealed, aiding truths discovered by reason

There is a universal thirst for truth in all of us; indeed, a hunger for sensibility and coherency

Philosophy is the discipline which attempts to answer the very foundational questions of reality
All philosophical disciplines and systems must realize that it is secondary to philosophical enquiry Its wholeness is not the locus of synthesis, but philosophical enquiry is Principles of identity, or non-contradiction, final causality, efficient causality, and so forth

There is an implicit philosophy

When reason correctly apprehends and applies these first principles, it is considered recta ratio

Problems arise in the total trust of the autonomy of reason as the final dictum of all truths Problems arise when the search for truth begins with man inspecting himself first instead of the world at large
Cf. Descartes and consequent philosophical systems (analytic philosophy, relativism)

Modern and post-modern philosophical systems have concentrated on the question how do I know? instead of the question what can I know?

The Church holds Divinely Revealed truths

Truth of Revelation and truth of philosophy are not mutually exclusive, but are not identical
Source: natural reason vs. divine revelation Object: the natural world vs. the mysteries of God

God neither deceives nor wishes to deceive. This truth is revealed to her by Christ, her bridegroom

There is a mystery that exists beyond what reason can graspChrist himself. Faith is an act of intellect and will, the allowance for reason to grasp that which it would miss without aid
This is true freedom

The people of Israel starts with I believe They end with that I may understand Again, what can I know is the question, not can I know? Because of this credo, the world is created with purpose and order and ready to be explored
He understands relationships

The danger of claiming sufficient knowledge


Socrates wisely said once, There is one thing I do know, that I know nothing.

The fool begins with himself instead of with the world at large
Recall the questions can I know? as opposed to what can I know?

He claims sufficient knowledge of the world, but overlooks the limit of reason.

The success that comes from science in the past has been to suppose that the universe is purposefulthat it is intelligible. God has created man for so that man may find God.
Christ as logos

Reason has a spiritual dimension that still remains but is difficult to accept because of the fall

Recall doubting Thomas, Nietzsche, Eustace Scrubb


Genuine conversion or genuine rejection that admits systematic failure of intelligibility of reality

God stirs the intuition of reason: to know is natural for the human person. If reason refuses to be humble, it subjects itself to blindness. The scandal of Christianity can only be understood by the genuine truthseeker

Does life have meaning? is the question that


drives us to the truth, to God. Truths, if they are true, must be universally true
Moral truths all places and all times
Slavery

Metaphysical truths all places and all times

God must be behind these universal truths, if He is not, there can be no universal truth
Chaos is not order

Philosophical inquiry asks the fundamental questions of what can one know? what should one know? And how can one know? Theological inquiry asks the fundamental questions of Who is God, how ought I approach God? What is the world and my relationships to God? What does God want from me? Concerning method: reason for philosophy; faith for theology Concerning object: reality for philosophy; God in relation to reality for theology

We build knowledge based on others discoveries


We live by believing and taking certain things for granted

In this way, we seek not only truths of reality, but of the person
Self-fulfillment requires trusting in others as well as your own senses

Friendship (trust) must be at the heart of genuine philosophical enquiry (reason)

What Ratzinger considers mythical religions Seeing a link between faith and reason When reason awakens, myth no longer suffices and thus universal laws are sought to make sense of reality Myth and religion are purified by rational analysis. Philosophical principles allow the Christian to come to understand some basic tenets of Christianity

The Church fathers tried to address the pagan religions on their own terms: philosophical terms Philosophical wisdom is not segregated to the realm of gnosticism (esoteric knowledge), but common to all.
There are non-philosophical paths to the Truth as well as philosophical onescontrary to what Plato, Aristotle, and Stoics seem to suggest.

St. Thomas holds a special place in the history of the interaction between faith and reason: he recognized that philosophys proper concern contributes to a proper understanding Divine Revelation. Faith has no fear of reason; instead, seeks it out and trusts it and thereby builds upon and perfects it. The apostle of truth: the philosophy of Aquinas is not merely a philosophy of what seems to be but is a realism of a philosophy of what is.

Modernism inspired a positivistic mentality with respect to the natural sciences and thus separated scientific inquiry from any moral context intrinsic to it as such. Nihilism-the search is an end in itself (I think of Camus)

As a result of the exaggerated rationalism of certain thinkers, positions grew more radical and there emerged eventually a philosophy which was separate from and absolutely independent of the contents of faith. Another of the many consequences of this separation was an ever deeper mistrust with regard to reason itself. In a spirit both skeptical and agnostic, some began to voice a general mistrust, which led some to focus more on faith and others to deny its rationality altogether.

Philosophy does not and cannot exhaust theological truths Theology begins with the auditus fidei (receiving the faith through hearing the Good News) then it must make sense of it by the intellectus fidei (the understanding of the faith) Philosophical wisdom aids theological reflection in purifying it of errors.

"While it demands of all who hear it the adherence of faith, the proclamation of the Gospel in different cultures allows people to preserve their own cultural identity. This in no way creates division, because the community of the baptized is marked by a universality which can embrace every culture and help to foster whatever is implicit in them to the point where it will be fully explicit in the light of truth" Visit #73 from encyclical

The world and human life have meaning and look forward to their fulfillment in Christ a fundamental Biblical philosophical conviction. First, to renew its specific methods in order to serve evangelization Second, looking to the ultimate truth and never being content to stop short of it. this task implicates metaphysics which claims to universal valid truths. The chief purpose of theology is to provide an understanding of Revelation and the content of faith.

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