Iskandar Kurbonovitch Asadullaev
Mamadshoh Ilolovitch Ilolov
Antecedents and Universality of Faith and Reason. Contra Descartes
Faith and Reason, their unity and correlation is a fundamental issue of human thought,
philosophy, psychology, culturology and theology. It was contemplated by every prominent
philosopher of the past and present, not to mention Augustine, Ghazali, Tertullian, Avicenna,
Berkley, Kant, Descartes and others.
We attempt to show primary correlated universality of both faith and reason for an individual
that underlie in every vital creation of a human being.
Mahatma Gandhi was known to be based on reason and morale in his humanism, unity of holy
books of different religions: "I believe the Bible, Koran, Zend Avesta are as god-inspired as
Veda…However, I assert that I know and realize true substance of teaching of Holy Books. I
refuse to acknowledge whatever interpretation no matter how scholarly it is, if it contradicts the
reason and the morale". (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. My Life/M. Nauka, 1969. – С. 475476; Asadullaev I.K. Novaya Paradigma. Ontology/Dushanbe: ЭР-graph, 2011 – С. 195).
Mahatma Gandhi words’ express restricted relation of faith and reason, each without another
leading to the dusk of human faith and reason.
In this article we attempt to demonstrate the initial coherence of faith and reason that do not exist
one without another. Faith cannot be without perception of faith, reason is based on faith. We
will contemplate faith not only as a religion, but more broadly, it is universal for human being. It
involves not only faith in God, Koran, Bible or other kinds of Holy Scripts, but also faith in
ideals, faith between people, states, faith in future, et al.
Firstly, we will concentrate on the primary universality, restricted coherence of these phenomena
in the life of a human being and mankind. It has been a lot spoken about; however we are
interested in impossibility of existence of faith without reason and reason without faith.
Faith plays a significant role in exercising the reason. Reason and practice without faith cannot
be. Bethink maxims of Augustine and Anselm from Canterbury –“I believe to comprehend” and
Abeliar’s maxim –“I comprehend to believe’, they were about religion. Even when a man
realizes that practice is a criterion of realness, his knowledge is based on faith-assurance that it is
such, not otherwise. When a man is aware about something, he is sure that he knows, is real and
true. He can think of falseness of any cognition, but even then he believes in falseness of
cognition. Reason is based on faith, while faith is based on reason.
To prove it is simple. Take a piece of bread, for instance. A man ever before taking a bite of and
chew on it, sees it however not completely. A man is not supposed to know something
completely. To see completely what a piece of bread consists of, a man cannot see on principle.
But the process of eating requires of him to trust his senses and reason, which tell him that it’s
normal bread and it can be chewed and eaten. A man shall, based on reason and senses, believe
in edibility of food. Without such faith fulfillment of life cannot be. And such it is at every step
every now and then.
To see and to know everything is a capacity of God or Demon Laplace, but not of a man. At the
same time it has to be pointed out that sheer faith cannot be: faith rests upon senses and reason, it
is realized. When you sense something, regardless of whether you trust your senses or not, you
trust your primary attitude towards senses and this attitude prompts you whether to trust this
sense or not.
1
Origin of each human life manifestation is based on credit of yourself, on faith in realness of
your senses and thoughts, on faith in own reason. Even if you do not trust your certain sense, it is
based on faith and your assurance of your rightness about falseness of a sense.
In other words, before every cognition there is primary cognition – your confidence, faith in
realness about your senses, judgments, logic, concepts, reasoning about self and the world. First
and foremost there is confidence in self, in your reason and senses that can tell you of realness or
falseness of all subsequent senses and thoughts. First and foremost there is confidence in you.
Even when you do not trust yourself, you trust the realness of such nonconfidence of you.
A man always lives through expressing his attitude to the world and self. Thoughts and senses
about the world and self can be most different. Primary knowledge is about trusting this attitude
towards the world and self in most different aspects.
Primary knowledge-confidence is universal for human being. Man always trusts himself even in
the most paradoxical instances, when there is no trust in self and to self: and in the events of
mistrust to a self there is faith in realness of such mistrust to self. Primary faith – cognition is
faith in own reason (we are not talking about abnormalities).
In the beginning of all thoughts and senses there is confidence in self, faith in realness of these
thoughts and senses, irrespective of whether they are right or wrong eventually.
Human person is helpless before powers of Cosmos and Planet; however they admit his
existence and even aggression in relation to the surrounding nature. All that is possible under
conditions of cognition of the world, however this cognition is incomplete. One other problem
originates hereof, which suggests that incomplete knowledge is actual throughout history of
mankind. It is always incomplete. But in many instances it is sufficient to exercise actions of the
man and mankind, adequate to the conditions and epoch.
And all of it is impossible without primary cognition-faith. In any directions: progressive,
distortion of mind, when it serves distortion of mind, while primary faith serves distortion of
faith.
Faith and reason do not contradict one another. Only unilateral ideas have distortion of this unity.
It includes atheists and fundamentalists, they attempt to use reason against reason, they use it
distorting its great humanitarian concept, castrating its humanity, channeling it against mankind.
But one cannot suggest that faith is ostensibly secondary and submits to reason. In fact, faith is
illuminated by reason; they are one whole, faith opens up its reasonable origin. Three origins
determine hope of mankind: faith, reason and humanity.
Faith and reason are universal for man and mankind, but in their manifestation they can be aimed
at distortion, castration of both faith and reason. Alongside with that we cannot go without faith
due to probability of alternative future.
For instance our knowledge of the fact that a chair is solid is not subject to doubt, it is always
solid. We are absolutely sure about that. Our absolute confidence however, essentially consists
of our faith in a fact that a chair remains solid. Meanwhile, there is a probability that its solidness
will change, although this probability is low. However, probability is always there. Future is
always probabilistic. Thus, we cannot make a step without faith in probability of one or another
alternative.
But we do not notice our faith in the fact that every future moment the chair will remain solid.
Not notice and this is the so called ground for the synchronization of the future in our
consciousness. Hence the illusory judgment: “a chair is solid beyond time”. We get distracted
2
from acceptable possibility of having chair transformed to something unsolid sometime in the
future. It may be endlessly unlikely but it is possible.
Synchronization of the future in consciousness when vector of time is reviewed only as present,
is typical for man, although everything, the entire world is constantly undergoing a transition
from present to future. Future is probabilistic, although probabilities can be infinitely minor.
Under such circumstances human being attempting to synchronize the future in his conscience,
fails to notice the key- primary faith, cognition with regard to the great world, which seems to
him sustainable beyond time and absolute by many aspects. He fails to notice his faith in
sustainability of things; he believes they are beyond time and beyond primary faith-cognition.
We talk about it in order to stress out the primary: future cannot be absolutely inevitable, it is
always probabilistic, with great probability of options or minor and infinitely minor probability.
Thus every moment we believe in occurrence of one or another, but it often occurs incognito,
captive of future synchronization in conscious, when we fail to notice probability of the future
and our faith in occurrence of one or another.
It proves once and again universality of faith for human being. Concurrently, we emphasize
universality of reason, conscious, what was stated by Viko and led to by Mahatma Gandhi.
Faith by Kant was associated with a priory knowledge. He admitted the limited indisputability
of experience, however at the exit into allness of judgments based on faith a prior cognition
begins. In the concept of this study, though, we assert the impossibility of indisputability of
experience without a prior faith in it.
When subjectivist Berkley states that only sensation exists, but not objects, he is positive about
it, he believes in his primary cognition. Similarly, when dialectic materialists claim about
objective existence of the world and objects, they have an absolute faith in their primary
cognition. To prove it they use practice as a criterion of realness of what they say. In their
primary cognition they also believe, though absolutely, in realness of this judgment. Primary
cognition based on faith in self, can be obvious, or latent, unobvious in the form of absolute
assurance. That is to say faith, trust in self, even in own doubts are primary cognition for a
human being. Misfaith in self, own senses and judgments is based on primary trust-faith in
rightness of such an attitude to them. When Rene Descartes says: "cogito ergo sum" - "I think
therefor I am ", from this epoch of new science and ever after "cogito" (think) was believed the
first reliable cognition (act of faith and mind), primary is his faith in realness of thought, faithcognition (initial act of mind). Often times it is not acknowledged. Faith in realness of thought,
as an initial act of thought, precedes thinking process or occurs at one time. However, if faithcognition is concurrent, nonetheless it precedes by substance, if not by time. This logic was first
introduced by Ibn Sina (Avicenna) in a different aspect.
Looking into primary cognition-faith, we are convinced that reason and faith are based on their
inseparability, reflection through one another.
Reviewing overall such an uncommon phenomenon as fundamentalism, that is a cause of
misfortunes for a man and mankind, we are forced to remark an existence of twilight recognition
in human life that one almost cannot get free of. It is impossible to get completely free but entire
essence of human development and life is aimed at freeing from twilight of conscious and faith.
And the best in human life is associated with unanswered impulse to break free towards true
conscious and true faith.
We can add here, too, that Holly Word was given not to a dead nature or animal life but rather to
a human with his conscious and heart. Hence, without conscious and heart it is impossible to
understand Holly Koran, and other charismatic books: Bible, Avesto, Veda and Gatt. It’s the
most crucial principle of peace-loving behavior in spiritual sphere for all mankind. This is also
most important principle of rationalism. / Dushanbe: Ejod. - С. 10).
3
Remarkable essence of human humanism is not about bringing forward differences of various
types of Holy Script – Koran, Bible, Zend Avesto, Ved and Gatt, but rather about understanding
their universal essence, consisting in humanity, high spirituality, in unity and universality of faith
and conscious.
2011-05-06
About Authors:
Iskandar Asadullaev
Doctor of Philosophy
Member, International Hegel Society
Mamadshoh Ilolov
Professor, Doctor of Physics and Math Sciences
Academician of Tajikistan.
4
Отзывы:
Авторизуйтесь, чтобы оставить отзыв