Saint Augustine: Reason, Faith, and the Pursuit of Truth
Reason and Faith in Saint Augustine’s Philosophy
Saint Augustine aspired to achieve truth and happiness, and for him, both are found in Christ. The road to Christ requires both faith and reason. That is, for Augustine, reason and faith are complementary:
- Faith must be understood with the procedures of reason. This is not a faith opposed to reason, as defended by Tertullian.
- Reason is fallible and insufficient. Reason without faith is prone to error and, by itself, is incapable of attaining truth.
The starting point of the reflection is the life of Saint Augustine and Neoplatonism, which showed the existence of a non-material God.
By becoming a Christian, he understood that one must not understand in order to believe, but rather believe in order to understand; faith is the road.
In Christian philosophy, reason comes in two stages:
- First stage: Reason precedes faith to examine what is reasonably believable.
- Second stage: Reason has to follow faith. Both need each other: faith is responsible for guiding reason, and reason must delve into faith and enlighten it.
Reason is, therefore, subject to faith, even though both are placed on the same plane to reach the truth: faith is the means to see the truth.
Theory of Knowledge in Saint Augustine’s Philosophy
In Saint Augustine’s theory of knowledge, he raises the issue of truth. For this philosopher, the search for truth is necessary, and human beings have an innate tendency towards wisdom that they should try to satisfy. Truth makes us wise, and wisdom brings us true happiness. This happiness is what Saint Augustine called bliss.
Truth and Knowledge
Augustinian philosophy distinguishes three different levels of knowledge that correspond to three types of sources to get the truth. These three routes are:
- Sensitive knowledge: Shared by animals and humans. It is the knowledge gained from the information received through the senses. Sense knowledge is not knowledge in the strict sense. It is the lowest level of knowledge.
- Rational knowledge: Unique to human beings. For Augustine, rational knowledge arises when our senses capture a sensitive subject, and our mind recognizes and identifies it as an idea. This recognition will be true if there is a correspondence between the concrete object and the idea that is modeled. Medieval thinkers called this logical truth. Saint Augustine understood that these truths are necessary and are tested by an operation of reason. However, they are truths that are imposed on reason because they exist outside of it. From this, Saint Augustine concludes that the truth is in reason but above reason. To justify intelligible or rational truths, Augustine uses eternal ideas, specimens, or species.
- Contemplation of ideas: It is the highest level of knowledge and consists of contemplating eternal ideas only through the mind. This contemplation leads to wisdom and is only possible through divine illumination. Augustine arrives at the synthesis of reason and faith because the concept of illumination assumes that knowledge is an initiative of God and that there is in the limited nature of man a power of knowledge that is independent of divinity.
The Augustinian God
Regarding the question of God, Augustinian philosophy addresses two aspects: existence and divine nature:
- The existence of God is not a problem for Saint Augustine and is shown through various arguments:
- God is visible through his effects.
- The universal consent of humanity agrees that there is a superior being above everything.
- Humans are sensitive to particular things through ideas (immutable and necessary) printed on their souls. God, as the foundation of truth, is the strongest argument for his existence.