The value (and limits) of philosophy

In my last post I commented upon a portion of St. Thomas' Exposition of Boethius' On the Trinity. The topic of the quotation had to do with the usefulness (within certain bounds) of reason in seeking knowledge about God.

Okay, so we can use reason, as Aquinas says. What about philosophy? Is that permissible? What about (for a large, elephant-in-the-room example) Aristotle?

Sacred doctrine is based on the light of faith just as philosophy is based on the light of natural reason. Hence it is impossible that what pertains to philosophy should be contrary to what is of faith, though they fall short of it. For they contain certain similitudes and preambles to faith, much as nature is a preamble to grace. If something contrary to the faith should be found in philosophy, this is not philosophy, but rather an abuse of philosophy because of defective reasoning. Therefore it is possible to refute such an error making use of philosophical principles either by showing it is in every way impossible or by showing that it is not necessary (Q2 A3 Response; p. 136; emphasis added).

So we see that of course Thomas says that it is licit to resort to philosophy in service of theology. But, as with reason generally, this usefulness is necessarily limited as he describes in the passage above. In this regard he goes on to say:

But one can err in two ways in using philosophy in sacred doctrine. One way is to use things contrary to faith, which is not philosophy, but its corruption or abuse...Another way is this, that the things of faith are reduced to the measure of philosophy, such that someone wishes to believe only what can be established in philosophy. It is rather the reverse that should be done, philosophy reduced to the measure of the faith, following the Apostle in 2 Corinthians 10:5: 'Bringing your mind into captivity to the obedience of Christ' (ibid.).

But what uses does philosophy have for us then? He says that there are three uses.

• To demonstrate the "preambles of faith", such as that God exists;
• To explain the truths of faith by way of analogy from philosophy;
• To refute false philosophical arguments against the faith.

(List: ibid.)

The similarities to what Aquinas previously said about reason are obvious. Reason and philosophy are perfectly legitimate expressions of the God's image in man, so long as they are restrained within the bounds of the truths of Faith. They are insufficient by themselves, because man is not able to attain to the infinite by himself: he is, after all, only human. The only way that we can attain to our last end, which is God, is by God graciously revealing the truths of Faith to us, and (since we have fallen into sin) by his even more gracious work in saving us through our Lord Jesus Christ.