Last week, in this blog I have argued based on the example of Maimonides that we should be cautious to accept claims of absolute truth about the universe. I have argued that there is no shame to being in doubt about the big questions and that there are so many different contradicting answers to these questions that perplexity is not irrational. This week I will go even further. I will argue that not only do we not know the answers to the big questions with certainty, but also that even the rational secular philosopher can never be completely rational in all its beliefs.
For as Thomas of Aquinas argued in his Suma Theologica, even secular philosophers must hold beliefs that they have not acquired rationally. For every human is always shaped by its experiences. And it is impossible for someone to not occasionally rely on beliefs or statements of predessesors and others. Thus we must say that someone who claims to have come to its beliefs strictly rationally and completely without faith is delluding himself. Everyone has to rely on faith somewhere one way or the other, so let’s just be honest about this human limitation.
David's medieval philosophy blog 