Reason and Faith

How/Why do people reason to have faith in unreason instead of in reason? Is this not a terrible mistake?

Do you see where I'm going with this?...

I don't know about the faith thing, but reason doesn't answer what happened before the big bang, neither does it completely answer what is consciousness. I for one would like to know these things and am even interested in listening to unreasonable explanations.

There is a decision making process at work when one chooses to have faith. Therefore, faith is fundamentally a choice, or perhaps more accurately, it is a belief in that choice. When one chooses to have faith in God, for example, one is expressing the conviction that his reasoning is correct - that there is in fact a God. So he has faith in his reasons (which aren't necessarity well-thought-out). If this is true then faith in God, or anything for that matter, is faith in the self's decision making process. Wouldn't it follow then that it is impossible to justify faith in something without good reason for it? One can go on and have faith in whatever imaginary beings he pleases: but that doesn't make him right - he is ignoring steps of reason while playing the role of inventor of explanations.

Hi evolvedform,
I have a curiosity in those things that reason can't explain; however, I pretty much have faith in nothing. So I see where you're going and I can't answer.

Let me make this claim:

Reason is the foundation of all that is under the realm of faith.

If this statement is true, then it is impossible to justify faith outside of faith in reason.

A tired attempt at a logical argument (it's 4am [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]):

All decisions at bottom are rational decisions.
Faith is a rational decision.
All decisions emerge from rationality.
Thus, all faith emerges from rationality.
All faith then is really only faith in one's own reason.
Therefore, 'faith' is only a misunderstood word.


"Faith in God" means "faith in my decision that God exists."
If one says this, then they profess faith in their ability to reason. So if they are honest with themselves, they would have to be more strict with their reason, not being satisfied with any doctrines that rest on this so-called "Faith."

Can anyone make a good argument against this?

[carlo]

Faith is a way of knowing and includes reason in its activity.

The difficulty with some is the mixing up of "faith" with "desire". To have "faith" that a future event will occur(good health,winning a war, survival,etc.) is egocentric desire in a caricature of faith.

To have "faith that an event of the past has happened" is quite different from "knowing within faith of that past event".

carlo