Ian Nathaniel A.

Balana

Ms. VanDommelen

HZT4U

26 November 2021

Fides et Ratio Critical Thinking Questions

1. Explain the metaphor John Paul II uses to describe the relationship between faith and reason

(“Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to contemplation of

truth…”).

John Paul II metaphorically relates faith and reason as the two wings that allow the

human spirit to rise towards thinking about truth. Like everything with wings that flies, both

wings are needed in an equal way. For an airplane, without the left or right wing, the pilot cannot

manoeuvre the plane smoothly through the sky and to the end destination of the flight. The same

idea can be applied for the human spirit. According to John Paul II, humans need both faith and

reason in order to let our human spirit fly towards “the heights…the rise to the truth of being”,

navigate the way to contemplate on truth, and ultimately, reach the fullness of truth in Christ

(John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, Introduction 5.0). In short, both and faith and reason have an equal

role in engaging a person towards the journey of finding truth. Just as the left wing allows the

plane to go left, faith allows a person to believe with complete trust on something without

complete proof. In a similar way, just as the right wing enables the plane to move rightwards,

reason enables a person to believe with complete trust on something because of its complete

proof. Without the balance of both wings, the plane will be instable and will fail to reach its

destination. Likewise, with just faith or reason to lift our human spirits, humans cannot

contemplate the truth. Faith offers little to no proof of the belief while reason only allows a
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person to believe something that is completely proven. With just one or the other, humans cannot

reach the fullness of truth because either the instability of false faith or the rigidity of strict

reason will drive the person away from seeking the truth thinking that no one can ever find truth.

This is because to find the truth, one must sometimes believe through a “leap” of faith or through

the acceptance of something that is reasonable.

2. What can philosophy contribute to the study of ‘revealed truth’?

Revealed truth focuses on the truth, or its aspects, that God reveals to humans that

otherwise, humans might not know by reason alone. Philosophy encourages us to think deeper

and as John Paul II mentions, philosophy is one of the resources “for generating greater

knowledge of truth so that [men’s and women’s] lives may be ever more human” (John Paul II,

Fides et Ratio, Introduction 3.0). Through philosophy, one can develop their knowledge of the

truth, thus becoming closer to it, and make their life more human in the sense that the “desire for

truth is part of human nature itself” (John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, Introduction 3.0). John Paul II

also mentions that philosophy is a part of human reason which a person has because of human

nature, and it asks why things exist. Philosophy allows human minds to think about these radical

and difficult questions about existence which aims to find the fullness of truth about being

human. As God reveals, humans examine. Philosophy relies on reason and logic to prove things;

therefore, humans think through the aspects of God’s revelation. Since God’s revelation of truth

is “a step towards that fullness of truth,” humans with proper reason will just strengthen the

proof in favour of God’s truth (John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, Introduction 2.0). This, in turn, will

strengthen faith and humans may come to know God. As John Paul II writes, “the Church

considers philosophy an indispensable help for a deeper understanding of faith and for
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communicating the truth of the Gospel to those who do not yet know it” (John Paul II, Fides et

Ratio, Introduction 5.0). Philosophy serves the purpose of human knowledge through reason, and

this results in giving proof to faith and the human capacity to think about deeper subjects of

truth. As God’s revealed truth advances humans a step further to the fullness of truth about

ourselves, philosophy becomes the humans’ way of coming “to know fundamental truths about

human life” with our own reason (John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, Introduction 5.0). As in the

previous metaphor, these two truths do not contradict each other; rather, these truths allow us to

contemplate towards truth continuously until we, humans, can understand truth fully.

3. Why is wonder an important experience for men and women and their search for truth?

Wonder arose from humans’ “contemplation of creation” (John Paul II, Fides et Ratio,

Introduction 4.0). In the search for truth, men and women first experience the wonder of

discovering humans as part of a grand creation, having relationship with others alike, and sharing

a common destiny with other humans. This sprouts from the thinking that human nature desires

to know the ultimate truth of existence. As John Paul II writes, “Without wonder, men and

women would lapse into deadening routine and little by little would become incapable of a life

which is genuinely personal” (John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, Introduction 4.0). Without wonder,

instead of searching for the ultimate truth of existence, human life becomes a robotic habit that

loses its meaning over time, ultimately leading to a life far from being human. Because humans

desire to know the truth, we try to always know to understand better and advance ourselves in

our mission to arrive at the truth. This will become an endless routine that some people might

think of as an unexciting thing to do, but because of our yearning for truth in our core, we, as

humans, do not stop trying to know. For this reason, people think that we become stuck in this
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way of living, rather than gifted with this truthful yearning, some think of it as being cursed with

the unending curiosity with an unimportant purpose that just stresses ourselves. With wonder,

humans think in a different way. Wonder provides the beauty in the search for truth. It reminds

humans about why we need to know: all the pursuits of truth are to know the ultimate truth of

existence, and the ultimate truth of existence allows us to know the direction we must take in of

our lives. Aside from this, wonder is the astonishment that pushes humans with the passion to go

after something worthy of time and effort because of truth’s importance and beauty. Wonder, in

turn, makes our lives easier to live through knowing that every search for the truth is a routine

worth moving for, inspiring us to go through adventures to find answers, and making us

genuinely personal.

4. Explain the message in the following selected passage from the Introduction of Fides et Ratio:

“Through philosophy's work, the ability to speculate which is proper to the human intellect

produces a rigorous mode of thought; and then in turn, through the logical coherence of the

affirmations made and the organic unity of their content, it produces a systematic body of

knowledge. In different cultural contexts and at different times, this process has yielded results

which have produced genuine systems of thought. Yet often enough in history this has brought

with it the temptation to identify one single stream with the whole of philosophy. In such cases,

we are clearly dealing with a “philosophical pride” which seeks to present its own partial and

imperfect view as the complete reading of all reality. In effect, every philosophical system, while

it should always be respected in its wholeness, without any instrumentalization, must still

recognize the primacy of philosophical enquiry, from which it stems and which it ought loyally

to serve” (John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, Introduction 4.0).

In the passage above, John Paul II moves from the importance of wonder to thinking

about its effects, which may have turned negative in some way today. Philosophy makes us

think, and through thinking, humans develop systems of knowledge. John Paul II acknowledges

that the systems of knowledge of different cultures have created genuine systems of thought that

guide those cultures in the way they think. However, he marks that the systems of knowledge

come with a temptation of “philosophical pride,” which rejects other ways of thinking in favour

of their own, thinking that their system of knowledge is the one and only interpretation of reality.

Given that this occurs in different cultures, reality now becomes something relative and

imperfect. This kind of reasoning is false because there is only one truth and one reality that

shows fullness and perfectness. This can only be seen when the philosophical systems are

regarded as different interpretations of one thing: philosophical enquiry. Philosophical systems,

as a whole entity, must be respected under the recognition that it is philosophical enquiry which

presents the questions that reflect on the fullness of truth and is in pursuit of the impartial truth.

Philosophical enquiry is the origin of every philosophical system through a certain system of

knowledge or thought.

5. Which universal principles of reasoning does John Paul II note help philosophers to accurately

discern truth, regardless of the passage of time or the increase of accepted knowledge? Why are

these principles most helpful to philosophers today?

John Paul II thinks that there are certain principles that humans share, “a body of

knowledge which may be judged a kind of spiritual heritage of humanity” (John Paul II, Fides et

Ratio, Introduction 4.0). These principles include “the principles of non-contradiction, finality

and causality, as well as the concept of the person as a free and intelligent subject, with the
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capacity to know God, truth and goodness. Consider as well certain fundamental moral norms

which are shared by all” (John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, Introduction 4.0). These principles have

been around in many philosophical schools, in different cultures, and in different periods of time.

He believes that these principles of “implicit philosophy,” the principles humans share with one

another, must be the common ground from which all philosophical schools must start from to

know the full truth. This is important to philosophers today because they are given a starting

ground where they can dig deeper to learn and know more. The principle of non-contradiction is

a very logical part of human thought, utilizing what most call as “common sense,” that explains

how one thing cannot be something and not that same something at the same time. Finality and

causality refer to how things have an end and how things cause other events to happen. The

concept of a free and intelligent human person delves into the idea that humans can do what they

want if they want it, and humans can think for their own selves. Certain moral norms are shared

by everyone such as The Golden Rule which encompasses all religions. However, the capacity to

know God, truth, and goodness, on the other hand, is quite disputable today. Many Modern

philosophers re-echo the ideas of the limited and conditioned capacity of humans. Philosophers

of today may think it most helpful that this idea is inherent to the human mind. As humans, we

inherently think that we have this capacity to know God, truth, and goodness. Through these

implicit philosophical principles, philosophers can now work towards a deeper truth beyond the

basic principles we all share but not think about reflectively.

6. Why has Modern Philosophy (not to be confused with Contemporary Philosophy) given rise to

agnosticism and relativism? What pitfalls can agnosticism and relativism lead us into?
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According to John Paul II, Modern Philosophy has focused its attention upon man, and

unfortunately, it has prevented itself from diving deeper into thinking about “a truth that

transcends [men and women]” (John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, Introduction 5.0). Modern

Philosophy has focused too much on human subjectivity that it forgets the truth that is greater

than humans in a sense that truth guides the lives of humans. Modern Philosophy has focused too

much on gaining knowledge in every small field of philosophy that it now fails to connect those

knowledges and use it to pursue truth. Reason now serves knowledge more than knowing to

understand the truth of existence. In focusing on human knowing, Modern Philosophy has made

the limited and the conditioned human capacity to know the truth more prominent than focusing

on using the capacity itself to know the truth and move forward. These can now be reflected in

agnosticism and relativism. Agnosticism is a belief that nothing can be known about God. It

presents a limited human capacity to know God, and in turn, the truth too. Relativism supports

the idea of many truths which can be different among different persons. Relativism, on the other

hand, embraces a conditioned human capacity on knowing the truth, thinking that a human’s

capacity to know the truth is based on how the person thinks about what is true. Modern

Philosophy has stuck the minds of people into thinking about our own selves and our capacity

than studying our capacity to continue knowing more about the truth. Furthermore, these forms

of thinking lead to a distrust on human capacity to know the truth. Because now that we study

how human capacity to know the truth can be limited or conditioned and there is a major distrust

on our capacity, there is now a plurality of truth – which is false in every way. There is just one

full truth, and nothing but itself must be considered the truth. Pluralism, through agnosticism and

relativism, allows people to think about different things are truth and settle for partial truths, also

called opinions. These opinions give rise to the belief that since no one possesses truth and that
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humans cannot possibly know the truth, all opinions – now regarded as truths – are equal.

According to John Paul II, this thinking is completely wrong knowing that there is just one truth

that transcends all the conflicting opinions. Instead of philosophy being the way to reason to

know the truth about difficult questions of existence, people now have different questions

focusing on themselves and varying answers that prove to be definitive and representative of the

full truth. Agnosticism, the thinking of limited capacity, and relativism, the thinking of

conditioned capacity, only causes skepticism and diverts philosophy from its goal; thus, these

fail to serve philosophy in the sense that it leads thinking away from pursuing the understanding

of the transcendental truth and focusing on how human cannot truly know only.

7. John Paul II writes, “With its enduring appeal to the search for truth, philosophy has the great

responsibility of forming thought and culture; and now it must strive resolutely to recover its

original vocation” (John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, Introduction 6.0). How can philosophy shape and

form the future of Canadian thought and culture? Of the Roman Catholic Church’s thought and

culture?

In the quotation above, John Paul II encourages his brother bishops in Christ to use

philosophy again as the guide to human personal and communal life which are greatly influenced

by thought and culture respectively. As students of philosophy in a Canadian Catholic school, the

formation of both the country’s and the Church’s thought and culture intersect and may fall on

us. In light of the Canadian thought and culture, philosophy can help revert and fix social thought

and culture by reflecting upon the truth of the society’s smallest unit’s thought and culture: the

family’s thought and culture. Canada is a multicultural country which makes it hard to identify

one thought to represent all peoples. Although multiculturalism promotes diversity, it is also a
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playing field for social clashes and injustices. From racial to economical, the divide in different

households and cities cite events that not all of the country’s population can relate to. Philosophy

can help in discussing social issues by thinking about how everyone is equal, in essence, as

humans, and how we ought to reason with the irrational biases we have growing up in different

households with different cultures. On the other hand, philosophy has been used in the Church

since the time of the first Christians, although not labelled as philosophers explicitly, and since

then, it has guided the Church’s teachings. However, much like Canada, the Catholic Church, by

its name, is universal. One may re-encounter the different ways of interpretation and different

inculturations of liturgy; however, at least the belief in Christ and the doctrines of the Roman

Catholic Church is common to professing Catholics. However, one may also encounter the dark

past and recent past of the Church, especially here in Canada. The Church also believes that the

actions of these people are clearly misguided and to prevent this, philosophy may help. Again, it

may help through the examining of thoughts and being rational, but also faithful. The Church

calls all Catholics to do both, as John Paul II did when he was still pope. Philosophy, as John

Paul II talks about in Fides et Ratio, is a way of understanding faith and making one’s faith

stronger through reason. It can also be another way of knowing how to communicate the Gospel

in the evangelical mission of the Church. Ultimately, John Paul II mentions that faith and reason,

supported by philosophy, can direct us to the truth of ourselves which can be found in love and

service to God. Generally speaking, philosophy is a way to know and acknowledge the full truth

by reason. By this, the members of every community are capable to understand each other as

fellow human beings sharing the same destiny and capable of knowing truth and goodness.