Caliph Mamoun
Caliph Mamoun dreamed that Aristotle came to him and told him that faith and reason are compatible — with important consequences for the history of mathematics. In Europe four centuries later, Thomas Aquinas invoked Aristotle when he used reason to support faith. Where are we today? Are faith and reason in conflict, or do they work together?
This question in modern days is hard to wrap around because everyone has different views on faith and not everyone reasons the same. Science is used today to prove that many things such as formation of planets are explained through physics while others may believe what their specific faith believes in. I have recently watched a science documentaryi think it was called dark matter or something like that and one thing that caught my eye was a scientist who used science to prove the bible. In his research he tried to see if in fact people had souls like the bible says. Before this he assumes that a soul is matter so it must take up space and space is mass so if that was in fact true the body of a dead person would be lighter. To make this comment shorter he found out through experimentation that thr body does get lighter and he also experimented on dogs whos mass never changed which confirmed the bibles teachings. Currentlt when modern scientists review this they say that he initially.assumed that a soul has a mass when a photon doesnt have any mass but its still matter. Also by assuming initially he got the result he wanted therefore reason isnt always the best solution when it comes to solving problems dealing with faith. Debate over this subject is still very controversial
Here is the link to the video I mentioned I recommend people to watch about how people tried to combine science and faith. The show is called dark matters on the science channel and they have other interesting facts if you will be interested.
Here Is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFhe5-DWQCk
Are faith and reason in conflict or do they work together is a controversial subject. However, nowadays people need proof to believe in anything. People study everything and especially with the invention of computer, people rely on technology and experiments to believe in anything. Back in the days, people believe in the higher power and anything that they could not explain. Everyone knows the story of Abraham and Isaac; a father who accepts to kill the only son he ha because of his faith in God; but today who will act likewise because of faith? a small percentage. People doubt faith but believe in reasonings. Once again, the subject of algorithm comes in play, we believe in algorithm to come up with such things like the stock market, electronics but then again we can’t understand the aspect of algorithm. It’s another kind a faith that is modernized. Today, faith and reason could work together but in just a more modernize or advanced ways. What we believe in back then, are not what we believe in Today because of the advancement of technology and modernization.
I agree with the previous comment that faith and reason can work together. It is not easy way to do that, but there are few chances that they will not conflict. In addition, only proofs can show us this relationship. Especially today when people do not trust everything; instead, they need to see the solutions and proofs.
Faith and reason will always be in conflict. Faith has no proof to back up it’s belief system. Mathematics, like dialectics, employ logical arguments to arrive at a given truth. They do work together all the time. On paper through mathematical equations it was a logical conclusion that we could land a man on the moon. However it took a large leap of faith to get a man into a rocket ship to go with the hope of returning.
In olden times when our lives weren’t heavily clouded by technology , people sought solace in religion and faith. They used religion to explain why things were they were and so on . However as time progressed and technology entered our lives people started thinking out of the box . They were now looking for reasons and factual analysis .Hence there is definitely a clash between faith and reason . These days you cant prove anything without evidence .One cannot just rely on faith.
I don’t think faith and reason are necessarily mutually exclusive. I think if you examine reason closely enough, to some degree it can be an exercise of faith even if it registers as an entirely different school of thought. If I look at my own beliefs when it comes to science or math, I only know a fraction of the information and research that actually informs these facts I take for granted. But for the most part I think reason and faith are regarded as antitheses to one another.
It’s an interesting question. When faith and reason come into conflict (world being flat vs. round, geocentric vs. heliocentric solar system, creation vs. evolution) it seems like reason comes out correct. But most of these conflict are not central to a persons faith or, in the case of creation, your faith can be expanded to accommodate the science.
Whats also interesting is some aspects of science involve faith. The very scientific process of putting forward a hypothesis and then testing it involves faith. String theory is based solely on mathematical extrapolation and is not yet able to be verified through experiment. String theory is accepted by many scientists but because there is nothing that can be tested is it science or philosophy? Similar things can be said about the theory’s of the multiverse.
I believe that faith and reason are both in conflict and work together as they should. This is only a problem when people are so rigid that they can’t adjust their faith based on proven fact or only respect what can be proven without seeing what is possible.
Is faith really a factor to what a person is capable of thinking? I do not believe that faith has anything to do with the thinking behind someones ideas. A person can think and not need faith to do it. That thinking comes from understanding of math or science and translating it into further knowledge.