Luis López-Farjeat

6/2/2009

"Faith, Reason, and Religious Diversity: A Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Approach in Medieval Philosophers"

Contemporary discussions on epistemology have raised a relevant problematic in the field of what might be called the epistemology of religion. The problem lies in the field of doxology and it may have arisen in the following way: We have an epistemological responsibility to justify our beliefs; religious beliefs are inherently unjustifiable; therefore, it seems to be irresponsible to hold religious beliefs. My work at CTI looks for different answers and resolutions to this problem, taking into account the work of six Medieval philosophers and theologians coming from different religious traditions. Although my approach is mainly philosophical, this discussion is relevant for the theological, scientific, and socio-political debates that we are facing in this secular age.

I work on Augustine and Aquinas as two representative Christian philosophers and theologians. My main interest is to contrast their comprehension of faith with the normative concept of epistemic justification. In a similar direction, I analyze the understanding of religious beliefs in three Muslim thinkers: Farabi, Ghazali, and Averroes. Farabi’s justification of religion is a pragmatic one, since he explains that any political regime could work if religion is not added as an element of cohesion. In his apology of religion, Ghazali deals with some epistemological difficulties that could be brought to the contemporary discussion on the sources of knowledge and its connection with certitude. Averroes formulates a rational theory of interpretation that appeals to demonstrative reasoning for justifying religious propositions that are allegedly unjustifiable. Finally, Maimonides represents the Jewish tradition. He finds that reason is helpful for enlightened religious beliefs. Nevertheless, some religious beliefs go beyond reason and cannot be verified using philosophical demonstrations. Therefore, it is pertinent to discuss whether it is valid or not to hold such beliefs.