Faith + Reason = Truth

Science makes blogging possible, while philosophy does not. This post of 8 days ago may imply that I don't believe or realize that fact, but I promise I do! The problem, as presented in that post, arises when scientists present science as philosophy, but it goes the other way too, with philosophy and religion sometimes presenting themselves as science.  One of the great singular intellectual achievements of humanity occurred, coincidentally enough, at the end of what Western civilization has dubbed the Dark Ages, the period where the light of (European) mankind's creativity, science, religion, and all manner of other accomplishments was supposedly extinguished for several hundred years between the fall of the Roman Empire to the barbarians up until the Renaissance.

Science and religion, both of which could have been considered as "philosophy" as far as the mid-first millennium B.C. Greeks were concerned, were two distinct and diverging paths by the onset of the Dark Ages, with science advancing as it did and still does by building upon discovery and insight after discovery and insight after discovery and insight.  Religion and philosophy, on the other hand, do not do that. Their advancements, or more accurately, their developments, rest on individual intellects thinking new thoughts in new ways about things that cannot be proven or disproven or even be directly observed. Thus it was for Thomas of Aquino, a Dominican friar of privileged Italian birth and upbringing who chose to exercise his quiet and contemplative manner and gifts in the confines of cold, damp French and German monasteries and medieval universities in order to attempt to reconcile "the Philosopher" Aristotle, whose style and overriding hallmark was to base knowledge on what can be observed or sensed and experienced in some way by the five senses (thereby making him as much a scientist as a philosopher) to his faith in his religion and Jesus the Christ.

Any attempt to pull this off by a lesser human being would most likely have led to that person being tortured and/or killed as a heretic - how (and, more importantly, why) would Christ possibly be reconciled to Aristotle, who came 300-400 years earlier? But Thomas had an uncanny ability to maintain the composure of himself and those around him while all arguments were made and debated and ultimately decided by the participants, and in these clashes he quite simply never lost a point. He was able to reconcile, not Christ to the Philosopher, but the Philosopher to Christ, and in so doing he accomplished the seemingly impossible feat of reconciling the religious faith and scientific observations of his day.

This was 750 years ago, and since then, bewildering and sometimes even terrifying advancements have been made in all fields of science.  Not true for philosophy and religion.  The reason for that is that, no matter what occurs in science, other scientists can build upon what happens.  If it's destructive, like mixing two chemicals that result in blowing up the lab, the results are recorded and the experiment likely not repeated.  If it's beneficial, it is used to build upon and progress even further.  With philosophy and religion, however, there are not "new developments" or "discoveries" to stand on.  There are only thoughts, since that is all that religion and philosophy are.  If the thoughts lead to something testable and provable or disprovable, then the realm of science is entered, leaving philosophy and religion behind.  Therefore, anything that can be thought by today's philosophers and/or religious thinkers could also have been thought by Thomas of Aquino (Saint Thomas Aquinas) or, for that matter, Aristotle, or someone who came before him.  Buddha and his inner peace? Christ and his love thy neighbor teachings? These ideas could have been, and probably were, thought by many people since the dawn of humanity, along with all of the not-so-loving impulses that sprang to mind and led to heinous actions carried out by people capable of acting in such ways.  Again, even today, these barbaric and seemingly inhuman thoughts and actions are occurring right this very moment in countries and cities and streets around the world, just as they were thousands of years ago.  They haven't stopped, nor will they, ever.

So we leave it to the philosophers to wonder why, to the religious people to believe their beliefs and pursue their paths to the peace and salvation of their souls, and the scientists to observe and create and test inventions that make us all more comfortable during our time on earth.  If you find yourself inclined to philosophize or wax Godly, as I am inclined to do, just don't expect or even attempt to "prove" your insights or feelings to anyone else, because it cannot be done.  They are yours and yours alone, though you may seek similarities and justification for your thoughts and feelings with other people of similar heart and soul past and present.  And if you are a scientist, don't tell us you have figured out how and why the universe began or where and why and how homo sapiens came to be mankind, because it likewise cannot be done.