Concept in Definition ABC

Through the use of reason we understand the reality that surrounds us. However, through the reasoning we cannot know the whole dimension of reality, only a part of it. In this sense, there is a philosophical and theological doctrine that supports the need to resort to faith to go beyond the limits of human reason. This doctrine is fideism.

In its etymological sense, this word comes from the Latin fidés, which means faith.

Clearing up this thought

Fideism is normally opposed to rationalism. While the rationalist current is based on principles of human understanding to order the world empirical, the fideist philosophers consider that the path of rationalism must be complemented by faith. This is not to say that they are irrational or agnostic.

Philosophical fideism does not coincide with Catholic theological fideism. For Catholics, faith has as its function the unveiling of certain mysteries that are presented as incomprehensible to human reason.

From the perspective of Marxist doctrine, fideism is a

attitude reactionary intellectual, since he distrusts science and bets on the supremacy of faith. For some Marxist philosophers, no approach Philosophical or scientific can refer to ultimate causes of a supernatural type.

Among the philosophers attached to the Marxism Orthodox of the former Soviet Union, fideism is a bourgeois doctrine that serves the interests of the ruling classes. On the contrary, the fideists consider that the objective knowledge of science is insufficient to discover the truth.

Fideism in Pascal

For Blaise Pascal (1632-1662), the rational arguments used to demonstrate the existence of God are useless and irrelevant and for this reason reason proposes that God be understood through faith.

For this French philosopher, theologian and scientist, the brain-mind binomial is not the only one that intervenes in the process of knowledge, since the heart has its own "intelligence".

In the encyclical Fides et Ratio by John Paul II, a reflection on the relationship between faith and reason is presented.

According to Juan Pablo ll the search for truth is a necessity of the human condition and it is God who has created it. In this line, he affirms that faith and reason are like two wings at the service of the human spirit and both are necessary.

Consequently, it would be a wrong way to try to know the truth only by resorting to faith or reason.

Photos: Fotolia - cristina_conti / Yes

Issues in Fideism