Many noted philosophers and theologians have espoused the idea that
faith is the basis of all knowledge. One example is St. Augustine of
Hippo. Known as one of his key contributions to philosophy, the idea of
"faith seeking understanding" was set forth by St. Augustine in his
statement "Crede, ut intelligas" ("Believe in order that you may
understand"). This statement extends beyond the sphere of religion to
encompass the totality of knowledge. In essence, faith must be present
in order to know anything. In other words, one must assume, believe, or
have faith in the credibility of a person, place, thing, or idea in
order to have a basis for knowledge.
One illustration of this concept is in the development of knowledge in
children. A child typically holds parental teaching as credible, in
spite of the child's lack of sufficient research to establish such
credibility empirically. That parental teaching, however fallible,
becomes a foundation upon which future knowledge is built.[citation
needed] The child's faith in his/her parents teaching is based on a
belief in their credibility. Unless/until the child's belief in their
parents' credibility is superseded by a stronger belief, the parental
teaching will serve as a filter through which other teaching must be
processed and/or evaluated. Following this line of reasoning, and
assuming that children have finite or limited empirical knowledge at
birth, it follows that faith is the fundamental basis of all knowledge
one has. Even adults attribute the basis for some of their knowledge to
so called "authorities" in a given field of study. This is true because
one simply does not have the time or resources to evaluate all of
his/her knowledge empirically and exhaustively. "Faith" is used instead.
However, a child's parents are not infallible. Some of what the child
learns from them will be wrong, and some will be rejected. It is
rational (albeit at a perhaps instinctive level) for the child to trust
the parents in the absence of other sources of information, but it is
also irrational to cling rigidly to everything one was originally taught
in the face of countervailing evidence. Parental instruction may be the
historical foundation of future knowledge, but that does not necessarily
make it a structural foundation.
It is sometimes argued that even scientific knowledge is dependent on
'faith' - for example, faith that the researcher responsible for an
empirical conclusion is competent, and honest. Indeed, distinguished
chemist and philosopher Michael Polanyi argued that scientific discovery
begins with a scientist's faith that an unknown discovery is possible.
Scientific discovery thus requires a passionate commitment to a result
that is unknowable at the outset. Polanyi argued that the scientific
method is not an objective method removed from man's passion. On the
contrary, scientific progress depends primarily on the unique capability
of free man to notice and investigate patterns and connections, and on
the individual scientist's willingness to commit time and resources to
such investigation, which usually must begin before the truth is known
or the benefits of the discovery are imagined, let alone understood
fully. It could then be argued that until one possesses all knowledge in
totality, one will need faith in order to believe an understanding to be
correct or incorrect in total affirmation.
Again, scientific faith is not dogmatic. Whilst the scientist must make
presuppositions in order to get the enterprise under way, almost
everything (according to some thinkers, such as Quine, literally
everything) is revisable and discardable.
Faith
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Faith can refer to a religion, or to belief in one or more deities. It
has two general implications which can be implied either exclusively or
mutually:
* To trust:
* To commit oneself to act based on sufficient evidence to
warrant belief, but without absolute proof.[1] Mere belief on the basis
of evidence is not faith. To have faith involves an act of will. For
example, many people saw Blondin walk across the gorge below Niagara
Falls on a tightrope, and believed (on the basis of the evidence of
their own eyes) that he was capable of carrying a man on his back safely
across. But only his manager Harry Colcord had enough faith to allow
himself to be carried.
* Believing a certain variable will act or has the
potential to act a specific way despite the potential influence and
probability of known or unknown change.
* To have faith that one's spouse will keep a
promise or commitment.
* To have faith that the world will someday be
peaceful.
* To have faith that a person will pay you back.
* To have faith that you will be okay despite
adversity.
* To have faith in one's full dependence on the
will of supernatural forces or deities.
* To believe without reason:
* Believing impulsively, or believing based upon social
traditions or personal hopes.
* A means to assume belief in something.
* To have faith in a process. (Faith in the Law)
* To have faith in a source or resource. (Faith your pay
check or employment)
* To have faith in a method to obtain. (work hard, lie,
cheat, buy, trade, be attractive, etc.)
* To have faith in the pathway to a specific desire. (The
fastest way to a man's heart is his stomach.)
* Faith is the development of pathways through
doubt. With certain resistances to life, wishing to obtain more life
force cause us to develop means and methods to overcome the resistance.
For example: With the development of farming and grocery stores the
ability to get necessary food has became easier, takes less time and
allows for more living. Everyone still has to eat, but the means of
obtainment has shifted. Our forefathers used to pray to God for a good
crop, as that was part of their faith. Many farmers still do that for
us, but now many us pray that the paycheck hits the bank before the
cable bill.
* When something is wanted and there stands doubt
between your current condition of need and the thing desired, systems of
faith are employed. A person will first work existing pathways already
established by faith. If they fail, they will seek to develop other
pathways by faith, not knowing for sure if the path they pursue will
provide the object they seek.
* The desire for things dominates the application
of faith. Many of those actively applying faith to specific pathways
seek less tangible things, such as love, peace, harmony, or even eternal
life. Faith is an individual path. Just because it worked for one
person, doesn't mean it will work for another. Just because I went to my
place of employment and got the paycheck with my name doesn't mean that
my brother can do the same. He has to establish his own means to obtain
things.
In either case, faith is based upon the interpretation of the intangible
(feelings, emotions, etc.) instead of the physically tangible and is
primarily associated with religion in modern times.
According to the Bible, "faith is being sure of what we hope for and
certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1, New International
Version).
*
Epistemological validity of faith
There exists a wide spectrum of opinion with respect to the
epistemological validity of faith. On one extreme is logical positivism,
which denies the validity of any beliefs held by faith; on the other
extreme is fideism, which holds that true belief can only arise from
faith, because reason and evidence cannot lead to truth. Some
foundationalists, such as St. Augustine of Hippo and Alvin Plantinga,
hold that all of our beliefs rest ultimately on beliefs accepted by
faith. Others, such as C.S. Lewis, hold that faith is merely the virtue
by which we hold to our reasoned ideas, despite moods to the contrary.
Fideism and Pistisism
Main article: Fideism and Pistisism
In Christian theology, fideism is any of several belief systems which
hold, on various grounds, that reason is irrelevant to religious faith.
According to some versions of fideism, reason is the antithesis of
faith; according to others, faith is prior to or beyond reason, and
therefore is unable to be proven or disproven by it.
The word is also occasionally used to refer to the Protestant belief
that Christians are saved by faith alone: for which see sola fide. This
position is sometimes called solifidianism and sol Pistisism.
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