Reason is based on faith.
Think about math and science. Math is kind of like a game played with certain axioms. To believe that the claims of math (such as, 7 + 5 = 12) are true means to believe that the axioms are valid. They are intuitive to us, convincing to us, and we believe them -- essentially, we have faith in them. Science is based on the scientific method, which is really another axiom in which we trust. (Technically speaking, positivistic science owes a large debt to the principle of proof by contradiction, which is a logical axiom, and is, of course, just another item of faith.) To repeat my favorite Terry Eagleton quote: reason does not go all the way down.
Think about David Hume's classic example: do you believe that it is safer to go out the door than to go out the window (he was speaking, of course, of a higher-story window.) I work on the 26th floor (at least, I believe that I do). Do you think that it's safer for me to take the elevator down rather than squeezing through the cracks in one of the windows (God forbid)?
That belief is based on some form of inductive reasoning, inductive reasoning which has no justification outside of itself -- which is ultimately an article of faith.
What is the difference between faith in inductive reasoning, faith in arithmetic, and faith in God? What do you think, Dear Readers? From a theoretical standpoint, I don't think there is much difference.
Is it possible that some article of faith was actually implanted by a Cartesian demon, such as genes or "memes"? Sure. When I have faith, I realize that my faith could have been implanted by a Cartesian demon, but I believe that it was not; I believe that it is a true intuition. Is there any "reason" to believe that it is a true intuition rather than a demonic implant? Not really; faith has no external justification. However, just as important, there is no coherent reason *not* to have faith in any article of intuition.
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformed_epistemology for a similar argument.)
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Faith is a Chi stain invention . The Christians were the ones against science and who put Galileo in jail when he said the world was flat. Somehow the Jews got thrown into this mess with everyone else. Our religion is based on reason and logic. There is a commandment to know there is a God not believe that there is a god who gave and know that he gave us the torah with 5 finger clarity . The main difference between us and other religions is that it was not one man or a few who said they saw God, we had a national revalation to 3 milion people. All our forfathers accepted a book that said in it, that they themselves all heard and saw God give the Torah at Sinai. What nut would accept such a book if he didn't , how much more so 3 million. So some say we were on peoty(Mushroom drug) in the desert. That's a nice idea(Christians and Muslims who kcan't refute national Revelation base their religions on it) .
ReplyDeleteWe live with our perception. We have nothing else, it's what we''re made out of. Therefore with our perception and logic we live our lives . I don't believe there is another option. With this in hand, Nation revelation is only one of many proofs and reasons that we know there is A god and that the Torah is Divine. Peace out and chag Sameach. Rabbi David .