Philosophy question

Question

Previous to the resurgence of Aristotelian philosophy, Christian worship was primarily focused strictly on faith in God, but Aquinas (through Aristotle’s writings) began the attempt to try to use logic and arguments about the natural world to prove the existence of God. How do you think this would have changed the fundamental structure of the church from its previous heavily Platonic/Augustinian structure? How does Pascal's Wager use logic to approach the topic of religious faith?

Answer 1

Hello Danielle,

First wouldn't simply christen philosophy into a pre Aquinas (pure faith) and post Aquinas (faith with reason). For one Anselm made his ontological argument over 100 years before Aquinas was born, and there is a rich tradition of neo-platonic thought before hand that did use argumentation. As such there isn't a good grounds to ask what would be different. On the last part, we can see a new kind of argument coming from Pascal. Both Aquinas and Anselm try to prove via pure reason while Pascal doesn't prove that God exists but that we should act as if we have faith. This point is further complicated in the Pensées, namely that knowing God comes after faith. There is more to be said, but this seems apt for now.

p.s. if you would like to study any of these philosophers in greater depth, please reach out.