The importance of Catholic Philosophy

What is Philosophy? Philosophy is an exploration of the most basic questions man’s reason can ask. These include: What is time? How ought we live? What is man, just a body, or a soul as well? What is truth? What can we be certain of?

How is Philosophy different from Theology? Theology’s task is to take the Truths of Scripture and tradition and unfold their meaning- it is based on faith. Philosophy deals only with what our reason shows us. It doesn’t appeal to faith or authority, but starts out from obvious facts, and self-evident principles.

Philosophy is a bridge! It allows us to share the search for truth with any reasonable person around us- a search which cannot but end in the eternal truth of God. It gives us the ability to explain to our children our faith, without having to say everytime, “Because the Bible says so”.

An example: The Soul. Let us take some self-evident principles… We can build upon these to provide strong evidence for the existence, the immortality, and the uniqueness of the Soul.

Some starting principles Everything acts according to what it is. Examples: A piece of diamond marks a piece of glass A dog sniffs other dogs bums Jupiter orbits the sun.

Every effect has a proportionate cause A strong wave is caused by a strong wind The torches light is as bright as the battery’s charge

Using Philosophy, we can say a soul exists by the effects it causes. Our senses are physical signals from our world. They produce physical effects on our brains, to make memory and imagination, things we share with purely physical things like monkeys and rabbits. They interact with our natural instincts, ie the smell of soup makes me hungry.

Is all knowledge from instinct and senses? No! If it was, we could not have ideas! Ideas are impossible if we are purely physical animals. The idea of a “triangle” can be separated in your head from all the images of triangle you have ever seen- the idea is separate from the image, or physical experience. This is the same for God, angels, love, etc

So What? Remember: Every effect has a proportionate cause Abstract ideas like love, God, triangles, are essentially different to physical sensations, or even memory. If Man was just physical, abstract thought would be impossible!

So? Man’s thinking activity, which is above of, and of a different kind, than the physical world And remember: “Everything acts according to what it is.” So we are part physical, (as we act physical) and part non-physical (as we can understand and love)

Then what is this non-physical part? The Soul!

If the Soul exists, what is the Soul like? Remember- Everything acts according to what it is. It is more real than our bodies! The freer something is from matter, the more real it is, as the more it can ACT. A vegetable acts on matter more than a stone A dog can act more than a vegetable A human can act higher than a Dog, And God is pure ACT.

Spirit is supreme! A spirit has no matter because it doesn’t need it! Physical things have to occupy space, at a certain time- not spirit!( Our souls are more restricted, even though they don’t fill up space, they have to act where our bodies are) Spirit is indestructible, and eternal. This comes out of having no parts. This is because Physical things, being made of parts, (atoms, etc) can be taken apart, or destroyed.

Are we a “ghost in the machine”? No! This contradicts our consciousness of self. We are aware of our bodies as part of ourselves. The soul/matter union is so perfect that only one being is present, like a statue is not marble plus shape, but shaped marble.

What about neuroscience? When I think of abstract ideas, you can see electrical activity in my brain- doesn’t that prove ideas are physical? No! Ideas are always accompanied by images and memories, which are physical. A soul is like a key for one lock only, perfectly suited to the matter it animates.

Philosophy is lower than Theology, but you have to speak a common language before you can teach higher truths.