ФИЛОСОФИЯ. Философия религии

Doctor of Philosophy, professor Rakhmatullin R.Yu.

Bashkir state agrarian university, Russia

The epistemology of neo-Thomism

Neo-Thomism – update the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). His teachings are an attempt to remove the contradiction between religion and science. His teaching is an attempt to remove the contradiction between religion and science. Aquinas believed that there are two kinds of truths: truths of science and the truth of revelation. The truths of science to explain only part of the world: they are limited to areas of everyday life, practice and thinking. Truth revelations relate to the world and include science and truth. Truth revelations relate to the world and include science and truth. For this reason they are preferred. The conclusion: scientists and philosophers should be guided by the truths of revelation.

This idea was developed in the philosophy of neo-Thomism – one of the most famous areas of modern religious philosophy. The main idea of the epistemology of neo-Thomism is the idea of the consistency of the religious and scientific knowledge. One of the major representatives of this philosophy is the E. Gilson. He writes that the content of the Christian philosophy is a set of rational truths, which have been transferred to man by God. Gilson said that many problems can be solved without the help of God. But this can not be said about the problems of metaphysics, theology and morality. When a young Christian is interested in metaphysics or theology, he can find the answer in Scripture, says Gilson. He can make sure that the main problems of metaphysics, theology and morality has long been resolved and that the solution is contained in Scripture [1, p. 12].

Supporters of neo-Thomism believe that scientific and religious knowledge is aimed at the same thing – an explanation of the world and man. And as the essence of the world is God, then any scientific knowledge brings us closer to an understanding of God. Scientific knowledge aims at an explanation of specific objects, but the nature of these objects is determined by God. Therefore, knowledge of specific subjects is imperfect, incomplete, it only partly includes the truth, such as the novel contains information about its author. For this reason, the knowledge of God through the knowledge of things is quite acceptable, but not fully.

The main means of scientific knowledge is the mind. Разум дан человеку Богом. Reason was given to man by God. Поэтому пренебрегать разумом не следует. Therefore, the mind should not be neglected. But the human mind is the mind of a finite, limited beings, for which not all truths are attainable. But God gave man not only the mind but also the faith. Guided by faith, man is able to reach a full understanding of the world and God. "The source of the truths of faith – the divine mind, and therefore they are highly intelligent, although many of them only partially available or not available at all to understand. For they Superintelligent ... The difference between belief and knowledge represents the difference between the divine and the human. But since man is created in the image and likeness of God, then his mind is different from the divine only infinitely less power. Therefore, the contradiction between reason and faith can be overcome. But the person needs to recognize the limitations of his mind, its imperfections" [2, p. 157].

Thus, representatives of neo-Thomism say that the truths of science are only a small part of the knowledge. Full knowledge of the world, man and God is possible only through religious knowledge. They argue that scientific knowledge is the movement of knowledge about the subject to the knowledge of their essence, which is God, and the knowledge of the faith, revelation, has a downward movement from God to things.

Philosophy is between these two kinds of knowledge (scientific and religious). The philosophy here is the translator: It translates into the language of the revelation of the truth of science and the truths of science – the language of theology.

This characteristic of knowledge goes back to tradition of Christian theology. Она представляет мир в виде нисхождения божественного знания к человеку, духовного – к материальному. It represents the world as a descent of divine knowledge to man, spiritual – to the material. To explain this idea Y.K. Subbotin quoted a famous representative of neo-Thomism Jacques Maritain: "Levels of goodness or perfection manifested in our knowledge of the levels of existence" [3, p. 83]. Maritain then shows the following picture of the development: progress of any system is moving in the direction of its base (the essence). The progress of knowledge is the movement of knowledge from the empirical level to rational level. But this is not the end. Further knowledge must move from a rational to spirituality: «прогресс есть одухотворение», – пишет Маритен [3, p. 84]. According to this point of view, the reason for the development is the presence in every thing the pursuit of perfection, ie the transition to a higher level of existence. И эта потенция внесена в мир самим Богом в момент его сотворения. And this potentiality introduced into the world by God at the moment of its creation. Therefore, any movement is the pursuit of perfection, then there is a movement toward the good. But the good is God. «In this case, all knowledge is knowledge of God». So wrote the Catholic philosopher Jacques Leclerc [3, p. 88].

Thus, representatives of neo-Thomism in favor of the union of faith and scientific knowledge. But they put religious knowledge above scientific knowledge. This is due to the fact that the author of religious truth is God. Note that this idea is supported by any developed religious epistemology.

References:

1. Gilson E. Philosophy and theology. M., 1995.

2. Shitikov M.M., Fokin N. P. Criticism of neo-Thomism // Philosophical Sciences. 1978. № 4.

3. Subbotin Ju. K. The essence of the value of the concept of neo-Thomism // Philosophical Sciences. 1972. № 3.