Scholastic thinkers held a wide variety of doctrines in both philosophy and theology, the study of religion. What gives unity to

admin2014-02-27  42

问题     Scholastic thinkers held a wide variety of doctrines in both philosophy and theology, the study of religion. What gives unity to the whole Scholastic movement, the academic practice in Europe from the 9th to the 17th centuries, are the common aims, attitudes, and methods generally accepted by all its members. The chief concern of the Scholastics was not to discover new facts but to integrate the knowledge already acquired separately by Greek reasoning and Christian revelation. This concern is one of the most characteristic differences between Scholasticism and modern thought since the Renaissance.
    The basic aim of the Scholastics determined certain common attitudes, the most important of which was their conviction of the fundamental harmony between reason and revelation. The Scholastics maintained that because the same God was the source of both types of knowledge and truth was one of his chief attributes, he could not contradict himself in these two ways of speaking. Any apparent opposition between revelation and reason could be traced either to an incorrect use of reason or to an inaccurate interpretation of the words of revelation. Because the Scholastics believed that revelation was the direct teaching of God, it possessed for them a higher degree of truth and certainty than did natural reason. In apparent conflicts between religious faith and philosophic reasoning, faith was thus always the supreme arbiter; the theologians’ decision overruled that of the philosopher. After the early 13th century, Scholastic thought emphasized more the independence of philosophy within its own domain. Nonetheless, throughout the Scholastic period, philosophy was called the servant of theology, not only because the truth of philosophy was subordinated to that of theology, but also because the theologian used philosophy to understand and explain revelation.
    This attitude of Scholasticism stands in sharp contrast to the so-called double-truth theory of the Spanish-Arab philosopher and physician Averroes. His theory assumed that truth was accessible to both philosophy and Islamic theology but that only philosophy could attain it perfectly. The so-called truths of theology served, hence, as imperfect imaginative expressions for the common people of the authentic truth accessible only to philosophy. Averroes maintained that philosophic truth could even contradict, at least verbally, the teachings of Islamic theology.
    As a result of their belief in the harmony between faith and reason, the Scholastics attempted to determine the precise scope and competence of each of these faculties. Many early Scholastics, such as the Italian ecclesiastic and philosopher St. Anselm, did not clearly distinguish the two and were overconfident that reason could prove certain doctrines of revelation. Later, at the height of the mature period of Scholasticism, the Italian theologian and philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas worked out a balance between reason and revelation.
Which of the following best illustrates the relation between reason and revelation?

选项 A、They are simply identical.
B、Revelation guides reason.
C、They are occasionally contradictory.
D、Reason is used to perfect revelation.

答案B

解析 这是一道细节题。文章第二段指出:经院哲学家认为,启示是上帝的直接教诲,因此,对于他们来说,启示比普通的推理具有更高的真实性和确定性;在宗教信仰和哲学推理之间的表面冲突中,信仰总是终极裁决者;神学家的决断否定了哲学家的决断。这说明,启示主导推理。B说“启示引导推理”,与文章的意思符合。文中没有提到A。与C有关的信息是该段的第二、三句话,文中是说“由于同一个上帝是这两种知识的提供者,并且真实是其主要的特征,所以上帝不可能在这两种表达方式上自相矛盾;启示和推理之间的任何表面对抗都可以归结为对推理的错误运用,或者归结为对启示话语的错误解释”,说明C不对。与D有关的信息是该段的最后一句话,文中是说“哲学被称作神学的追随者,这不仅是因为哲学原理从属于神学原理,还因为神学家利用哲学理解和解释启示”,说明D不对。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/sXO4777K
0

最新回复(0)