Week 8

Philosophy and Religion

"Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it".

Andre Gide (French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature-1859-1961)

    The existence of God is an issue that concerns philosophy and religion. Both try to answer the same questions about the meaning of life, death, fate ... etc, but in different ways.

The philosophy addresses these issues from a rational point of view, and it is open to criticism and change through the advancement of human knowledge. God, from the philosophical point of view, is the possible existence of a first principle using the reason to raise the hypothesis of an omnipotent being. Religion simply takes this hypothesis as dogma, there is no debate about the existence of God, and it assumes its true without having reached this conclusion by reason. Religion responds directly to the most important human questions without allowing changes, and faith is all we have as answers to our questions.

Philosophy has doubts, religion asserts.  Philosophy arises from criticism, religion from dogma. The principles accepted by faith do not allow criticism, and philosophical analysis criticizes everything, therefore philosophy and religion are incompatible unless there is reasonable faith.