Faith, Reason, and the Nature of Existence

The Interplay of Faith and Reason

This document explores the scope of reason and how a believer accepts certain truths through an act of faith. These include the Preamble of Faith, which encompasses rationally intelligible and demonstrable truths such as the existence of God and the immortality of the soul.

Philosophy and Theology: Complementary Orders

Faith and reason are complementary. They represent two distinct but harmonious orders:

• The Natural Order: This stems from human reason, leading to the development of philosophy and natural science.
• The Order of Revelation: This comes from divine knowledge, revealing truths beyond the full grasp of reason, which the believer accepts through an act of faith.

Within the order of revelation, we encounter the Mysteries of Faith – truths that are not rationally intelligible or demonstrable.

Sources of Knowledge and Their Relationship

Both the natural and revealed orders originate from God:

• Faith: Requires divine grace and comprises a set of truths revealed by God.
• Reason: A power of the soul, created by God.

Revelation serves to orient reason, guiding it and helping to avoid errors. Conversely, reason can assist in demonstrating the necessary truths of faith.

Theology: A Mixed Science

Theology is the result of a profound collaboration between reason and faith. It draws its unprovable principles from faith and its rational procedures from philosophy. The outcome is a mixed science, bridging the natural and supernatural orders.

Distinction Between Philosophy and Theology

While philosophy and theology may sometimes address the same truths, they approach them differently. The theologian considers these truths as divinely revealed, whereas the philosopher arrives at them through human reasoning processes.

Metaphysical Foundations of Existence

The Hierarchy of Beings

Existence can be understood through a clear hierarchy of beings:

1. God: The pure, infinite, uncreated spirit and act of being.
2. Angels: Created, finite spirits.
3. Man: A rational soul, embodied, created, and finite.
4. Animals: Sensory and irrational beings.
5. Plants: Living, non-sensory forms.
6. Inorganic Forms: Non-living matter.

Essence, Existence, and Contingency

This framework supports a pluralism of beings, distinguishing between God, the one necessary Being, and the many created beings or creatures.

• God: Is necessary; He cannot not exist. In God, essence and existence are identified; He is pure Being, devoid of any composition.
• Created Beings: Are contingent; they exist but could not exist. Creatures are composed of both essence (their nature) and existence (the act of existing), which they receive from God.

The concept of essence (nature) is understood through hylemorphism, except that spiritual substances are pure form, without matter.