The combination of philosophy and religion is sometimes viewed in a negative light by theists who think of philosophy as destructive to, or even in opposition with, their religion. But there seem to be many cases throughout history where philosophy has refined and confirmed theological and religious truth claims. We see here, through example and argument, that there is certainly evidence showing the potential for mutual benefit between philosophy and theology.

You are about to embark on an exciting and fascinating journey—the philosophical exploration of some of life’s most important ideas, ideas about reality, God, the soul, knowledge and truth, goodness, and much, much more. Make no mistake about it. Ideas matter.

(Moreland and Craig) ^[1]Moreland, J. P., William Lane Craig. Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. Down Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003. p11.

Understanding Philosophy and Religion

This is how philosophy should be viewed, as fascinating and exciting, but instead many theists believe it to be a “theology” for the atheists and so many others think it boring and pedantry. While it may in many cases be the latter, it certainly doesn’t have to be the former. Nor does the theist have to reject it as heretical. Can the theist not benefit from Philosophy and vice versa? By using a specific example from philosophy of religion—namely the problem of evil—that has both theological and philosophical implications, I intend to show the possibility, and indeed an existing case, of mutual benefit between philosophy and theology.

But what is philosophy anyway? Well, Moreland and Craig assert, as do many other scholars, that no “airtight” definition can be reached, but for the sake of this paper I will use a non-airtight definition put forth by Thomas Shipka and Arthur Minton in a textbook called Philosophy ^[2]Moreland, J. P., William Lane Craig. Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. Down Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003. p12.. “Philosophy is the evaluation of beliefs to determine whether they are true and the evaluation of practices to determine whether they are sensible and ethical” ^[3]Shipka, Thomas A., Arthur J. Minton. Philosophy: Paradox and Discovery. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2004. p2. This definition, I think, is as airtight a definition as we will need for the purposes of this post.

Philosophy, as defined here, can be a powerful tool for refining and confirming adequate beliefs and practices, as well as for exposing and eradicating inadequate ones. That being said, two topics that seem to frequent philosophical discussion are theology and philosophy of religion. Both of which seem to deal with religion directly. What then is religion? Well, religion, like philosophy, is not easy to define. In fact, volumes have been devoted to doing that very thing and most, if not all, have been seen to fail in some regard. Religion is such a broad concept that it has been said to have several different definitions, each depending on the person or persons defining it. For the sake of this paper, however, if we recognize, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as all being included in the category of religion, then we should be fine.

Philosophy and Religion Together

Religion, by bringing with it a plethora of truth claims and practices, opens up a multitude of opportunities for philosophical advancement. And philosophy, after evaluating religious beliefs and practices, can be shown to be a powerful tool in building stability and confidence in religion as a whole, because it breaks away any irrational ideas of mere tradition and gets to the root of religious belief and practice. I am trying to show here that philosophy and religion can have a symbiotic relationship, though I do understand that it can be abused. William James says this about the balance between the two: “The most useful investigator, because the most sensitive observer, is always he whose eager interest in one side of the question is balanced by an equally keen nervousness lest he become deceived” ^[4]James, William. The Will to Believe. Michigan: Longmans, Green, and co., 1911 p21..

Moreland and Craig assert that one can better understand philosophy, especially as it relates to other disciplines, if we simply pay attention to a few points. One of the first things to understand is the nature of philosophy to function as a “second-order discipline.” Disciplines like biology or nursing are considered “first-order discipline[s].” They study a particular thing, like organisms or patient care, while philosophy may study biology or nursing themselves.

According to Moreland and Craig, philosophers may ask questions like these about biology: “Is there an external world that is knowable and, if so, how does one know it? What is life, and how does it differ from nonlife? When biologists talk about information in DNA, how should we understand this talk” (13)? They then conclude with this statement: “These questions are all philosophical in nature, and by examining them it becomes evident that philosophers ask and seek to answer presuppositional, normative, conceptual and integrative questions about other fields of study” ^[5]Moreland, J. P., William Lane Craig. Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. Down Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003. p13..

A second assertion, by Moreland and Craig, that stand out as vital in understanding the role of philosophy as beneficial to religion is this: “Philosophy undergirds other disciplines at a foundational level by providing clarity, justification for or arguments against the essential presuppositions of that discipline” ^[6]Moreland, J. P., William Lane Craig. Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. Down Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003. p23.. That is to say, philosophy is uniquely poised to evaluate the truth claims and validity of other disciplines. For example, in nursing, one studies patient care which may be based in a philosophical framework such as best practice. This emphasizes efficiency and effectiveness in patient care as based in well established experience. This framework and others might be the focus of philosophy of nursing ^[7]”TJISS Glossary.” tjiss.com. 5 April 2009 <http://www.tjiss.net/glossary_b.html>. (Note: This site is no longer maintained.).

The third and final point we need to understand is this: “Philosophy can aid a discipline by helping to clarify concepts, arguments forms and other cognitive issues internal to a field” ^[8]Moreland, J. P., William Lane Craig. Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. Down Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003. p23.. Basically, ideas in a field can appear to beg the question or to be contradictory. With the help of a philosopher in the field those ideas can be clarified and refined. They use an example here from the discipline of science to demonstrate their point. The example states that evolution is said to promote the survival of the fittest, but at the same time the “fittest” were said to be the survivors. This is known as a circular argument in logic and is a common mistake in many disciplines. The issue was addressed and philosophers in the field have made an attempt to correct this error. So, here we see philosophy clarifying an issue within a discipline.