Trapped in my metaphysical bubble.
I've been thinking for a bit on the roles of philosophy and theology and I've come to the realization that the two disciplines, at least for a Christian, constitute two overlapping spheres of study and thought. I figured this whilst dwelling on the etymology of the two words.
"Philosophy" means "love of wisdom" (from the Greek philos-love and sophia-wisdom). One must understand the word within its Greek context. The first man to be called a "lover of wisdom" in Greek thought was Thales. His purpose, however, was not in pursuing "wisdom" in the sense that we think of today (which is knowledge of life and the universe that is applied existentially to one's personal circumstances so as to lead a right, and fulfilling life); rather, his interest was in finding the property common to all matter. In other words, he was concerned with what substance made up the universe. His answer was water, and though he was wrong, he started a revolution in human thought, since he did not appeal to the gods in his analysis, which perhaps explains the tension between theology and philosophy that I am trying to resolve. One can trace Thales' thoughts concerning nature directly to the Sophists of Socrates' and Plato's days.
Socrates and Plato (S&P) constituted a reaction against the cynicism and skepticism of the Sophists. S&P were more concerned with how a man should live his life. Ergo such questions in The Republic about fundamental issues as happiness, justice and politics as concepts implemented into existence by moral agents. S&P were concerned with strict definitions and, they believed, that from such a definition a man could formulate and derive principles for living rightly.
A couple thousand miles southeast of Achaea, the Hebrews were busy working out a system of theology as revealed to them by God, Whom the Hebrews (and I am in agreement) believed had delivered them from bondage in Egypt. "Theology" is also derived from the Greek (theos-God and logoi-which is a loaded philosophical term meaning either "words" or "principles").
Hence my working assumption: we need to understand philosophy in order to understand the meaning of theology, and we need theology to give us some fundamental presuppositions in order to better prosecute our philosophy.
Now to figure out what the heck that means...
Thoroughly discouraged, and awed by God's immense knowledge.
Grace
"Philosophy" means "love of wisdom" (from the Greek philos-love and sophia-wisdom). One must understand the word within its Greek context. The first man to be called a "lover of wisdom" in Greek thought was Thales. His purpose, however, was not in pursuing "wisdom" in the sense that we think of today (which is knowledge of life and the universe that is applied existentially to one's personal circumstances so as to lead a right, and fulfilling life); rather, his interest was in finding the property common to all matter. In other words, he was concerned with what substance made up the universe. His answer was water, and though he was wrong, he started a revolution in human thought, since he did not appeal to the gods in his analysis, which perhaps explains the tension between theology and philosophy that I am trying to resolve. One can trace Thales' thoughts concerning nature directly to the Sophists of Socrates' and Plato's days.
Socrates and Plato (S&P) constituted a reaction against the cynicism and skepticism of the Sophists. S&P were more concerned with how a man should live his life. Ergo such questions in The Republic about fundamental issues as happiness, justice and politics as concepts implemented into existence by moral agents. S&P were concerned with strict definitions and, they believed, that from such a definition a man could formulate and derive principles for living rightly.
A couple thousand miles southeast of Achaea, the Hebrews were busy working out a system of theology as revealed to them by God, Whom the Hebrews (and I am in agreement) believed had delivered them from bondage in Egypt. "Theology" is also derived from the Greek (theos-God and logoi-which is a loaded philosophical term meaning either "words" or "principles").
Hence my working assumption: we need to understand philosophy in order to understand the meaning of theology, and we need theology to give us some fundamental presuppositions in order to better prosecute our philosophy.
Now to figure out what the heck that means...
Thoroughly discouraged, and awed by God's immense knowledge.
Grace