Skyscraper Epistemology

The next sphere of epistemology I will consider is philosophy. The word philosophy comes from philein which means “love” and sophia which means “wisdom.” It refers to the love for wisdom and subsequent pursuit of it. It was originally embodied by Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

Socrates asked probing and provocative questions to incite critical examination, leading his students (and other conversation partners) to think carefully about ethics and morality. The Socratic method is still widely known and emulated today.

Aristotle developed principles of logic. He is especially remembered for his use of syllogism, by which one argues from a major premise and a minor premise to a conclusion. For example, Jesus uses syllogistic logic in his interaction with the Pharisees and Sadducees in Matthew 16:2-3. “‘When it is evening you say, “It will be fair weather, for the sky is red” and in the morning, “it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.”’”

• Major premise #1: When the sky is red, the weather is fair.
• Minor premise #1: The sky is red this evening.
• Conclusion #1: The weather will be fair.

• Major premise #2: When the sky is red and threatening, the weather is foul.
• Minor premise #2: The sky is red and threatening.
• Conclusion #2: The weather will be foul.

This is not to say of course that Jesus was beholden to Aristotle, but rather that Aristotle hit on something that is baked into the world that Jesus made. Jesus’ critique of the Jewish leaders is fundamentally philosophical. They could deduce the weather but they couldn’t deduce that their Messiah was standing right in front of them.

At its center, philosophy seeks to answer foundational questions by pursuing human rational thought to its outer limits. As a skyscraper is a towering monument to what humans are capable of creating with their hands, philosophy is a testament to what we can do with our minds.

Though “philosophy” can be used in a technical sense of the high-level philosophies of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle (or later philosophers like Immanuel Kant, David Hume, and Soren Kierkegaard), it can also be used more broadly of the reasoning each one of us does on a daily basis. These are the ideas and values formed by rational thought, the reasoning each of us does to justify or condemn beliefs and behaviors.

If we stretch it a little further, we can also include our less precise, less calculating thoughts. Each of us regularly evaluates choices and ideas to determine what we ought to do. That which is called “common sense” is in reality a result of a mind that is well-conditioned to make wise choices in ordinary circumstances.

This is important because we should not reduce philosophy to armchair speculation. Rather, each of us is a philosopher of a sort, making rational choices as we navigate everyday life and especially interacting rationally with the truth claims which regularly bombard us through social media, Youtube, and the newspaper. To ask the question, “Does this make sense based on what I believe to be true?” is to practice philosophy.

Philosophy is about pursuing truth through rational thought. Like the other spheres we’ve discussed, it is not antithetical to biblical truth, but it is distinct. It is another influence which shapes what we believe and do. It is important for us to be able to distinguish between ideas which originate in our minds (or the minds of other people) and the ideas which originate in God. Only that which originates in God is absolutely trustworthy.

This is tricky to navigate. Because we bring ourselves with us when we read the Bible, it’s easy for us to impose our rationality onto Scripture and only allow it to say what we would like it to say. We filter Scripture through our rational categories and, in the process, miss the meaning of the text. It is quite possible for us to miss God’s intended purpose for Scripture because we — by our philosophical assumptions — restrict what He is allowed to say. It’s a constant war to subordinate our minds to Scripture so we are shaped by it rather than pressing it into our mold.

Though it may seem that I have a distaste for philosophy, that’s not my intention. God wants us to use our minds. He is a rational being who created us with rational minds — in large part so we can know and enjoy Him. We should try to think carefully and well, all the while testing ourselves against the sure, unerring word of God to keep ourselves from wandering off track.