Before you start reading...

Hello and welcome to my new post discussing Philosophy and religion. If you wish to know the origin of the relationship between philosophy and religion, check out this post, discussing Philosophy and myth. I have also added a new feature that will help you find out small facts about purple, underlined words if you just hover over them with your mouse, so don't be afraid to try it out! Keep in mind that I've translated this on Google Translate and that it may have some grammatical errors or it would sound unnatural; since all my original research texts are in Serbian. And if you find anything that isn't true or something missing in this blog post, please let me know in the comments, I would appreciate it very much! And now, without further ado, enjoy reading.

Philosophy and myth as a step into the relationship between philosophy and religion

The complexity of the relationship between philosophy and religion was already seen in the relationship between philosophy and myth, as an early form of religion. In this sense, the relationship between philosophy and religion was already touched upon in the previous chapter. However, when talking about this relationship, we primarily mean the relationship between philosophy and monotheistic religion, or philosophy and organized religion.

Xenophanes on polytheism

The first monotheistic ideas appeared precisely in philosophy, and the first thinker who openly criticized polytheism was called Xenophanes. He argued that the idea of a multitude of gods was unreasonable.

"There is one god, the supreme ruler of gods and men, neither in appearance nor mind like mortals."

A common topic

Philosophy and religion have at least one common topic - god and his nature. And also, both have a common subject - eternal truth.

Three basic relationships between philosophy and religion

Mutual exclusion - With the advent of religious revelations, philosophy has become redundant to believers. Everything that philosophers researched in moments of great religious enthusiasm seemed meaningless to the supporters of new religions. The question of the immortality of the soul, the creation of the cosmos, the meaning of life and individual happiness is solved by religion through revelation. These announcements eventually became dogmas — assertions that were not allowed to be verified. The justification for such attitudes is found in the idea that religious truth is inaccessible to the human mind. Especially dangerous were the circumstances in which organized religion gained decisive influence in the community. This phenomenon is called theocracy. The church's intolerance of philosophy in such communities is destructive. From the declaration of Christianity as the state religion in the 4th century BC, until 529. there is a great persecution of philosophers and philosophy. In this madness, the library in Alexandria was burned, many philosophers were killed, until finally philosophy was not banned in Byzantium.

Of course, there are also philosophies that exclude religion. Different arguments are used for this relationship. During the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th century, priority was given to the critical mind. The church was accused of manipulation. It was claimed that priests use religious content to exploit believers. This kind of criticism of religions is called Enlightenment criticism. Even this kind of relationship was not without dangerous consequences. During the Jacobin dictatorship in France, tens of thousands of priests were killed.

Complementarity - This relationship is most common in the Roman Catholic and Islamic Middle Ages. Philosophy was considered as an auxiliary theological discipline, the "handmaiden of theology". Its role is to help interpret religious dogmas. This relationship is often seen as that of faith and knowledge. Faith begins where knowledge ends. The Roman philosopher Augustine advocated the idea that faith leads us to knowledge.

Mutual matching - This idea is based on several common features. First, both philosophy and religion have a common subject - eternal truth. Second, both require that the person engaged in them be dedicated. Furthermore, both religion and philosophy imply commitment to the truth, regardless of personal prejudices and interests. Therefore, both philosophy and religion change the one who is dedicated to them. A devotee should live according to what he has learned.

The difference remains in the sphere of the method of study. A philosopher contemplates the eternal truth, demands arguments and proofs, while in religion it remains at the level of representation. Religion shows, describes the eternal truth and does not require evidence. Because of these similarities, it is not a rare case that religious content appears in the histories of philosophy.

Philosophy and Religion today

All three mentioned relations between philosophy and religion are not a thing of the past, as it is sometimes considered. Even today, the clergy often opposes philosophy, as they did in the Middle Ages. There is no lack of sharp philosophical criticism of religion, which is not behind the Enlightenment.

Michel Onfre's criticism of religion

Contemporary French philosopher Michel Onfray revives the Enlightenment criticism of religion in his lectures and books. Onfre points out that the dangers of religion have been forgotten too quickly.

He primarily means intolerance, manipulation and fanaticism. It proves that the danger of theocracy has not disappeared, but that, on the contrary, it is very current.

The philosophical discipline that studies religion is called philosophy of religion.

Philosophers who approved of religion

Ibn Rushd (Averroes) - Arab philosopher from Cordoba is better known by his Latinized name Averoes. He argued that philosophy is a religious obligation and strongly criticized the devaluation of philosophy. He argued this point of view with the Islamic tradition itself. He lived in the 12th century. His most famous work is "The Incoherence of Incoherence."

Aurelius Augustine - The last philosopher of the ancient era or the first medieval philosopher, known as St. Augustine of Hipp, lived in North Africa from 354 to 430. He believed that faith and understanding were connected.

"I believe I would understand. (lat. Credo ut intelligam)"

His most important works are "The State of God" and "Confessions".

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel - One of the philosophers who believed that there is a "coincidence" between philosophy and religion. That's why he called philosophy "the week of man's life" and "continuous service to God". He lived in Germany from 1770 to 1831. His most important works are "Phenomenology of Spirit" and "Science of Logic".