PHL 3305 Lecture 5

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Closing remarks on Fides et Ratio

Know Thyself

Man has a soul to partake of higher order, but also has a body with which to sense the natural world
- We act as a bridge between the world and the intellect
Fundamental Questions
- Who am I?
- Where do I come from?
- Where am I going?
- Why do evils exist here?
- What awaits us after this life?
"Philosophy was born and developed when man began to question himself concerning the causes and ends of realities." (FR 3)
- Where did you come from?
- Where did you go?
- Cotton-eyed Joe.

wonder: a mild fear in the presence of one's own ignorance; engine that drives the acquisition of knowledge
speculation: proper to human intellect; proper implies sense of onwership (e.g. property)

Science in itself has an orderered whole
- Principle of non-contradiction: we have to change theories once we obtain knowledge that contradicts the current state-of-the-art
Implicity Philosophy: Characteristics and beliefs of a sane person:
- Principle of non-contradiction
- Finality
- Causality
- We are free and intelligent subjects
Reason seeks out the truth

Common modern fallacies:

universal skepticism: presumes doubt rather than belief
undifferentiated pluralism: treating all opinions as if they have the same validity (a type of relativism)

As Catholics, we

Theses:

all arguments begin with infallible dogma/assumption
there are certain unproved and unprovable things that all sane men believe
- these things do not (and cannot) need to be demonstrated

the world around him and the people in it are real and not his own delusion
the world not only exists but matters: we seek to improve the things we did not make
there is such a thing as a "self" (or "ego") which is continuous
power of choice and responsibility for action