Understanding Our Being: Introduction to Speculative Philosophy in the Perennial Tradition

Introduction

Introduction Philosophy This is a book of speculative philosophy;1 but what, the reader may ask, is that? From its Greek etymology (philia, for “love,” plus sophia, for “wisdom”), the word “philosophy” means “love of wisdom .” “Wisdom,” in turn, suggests an understanding of ultimate matters —in particular, concerning the nature of our being, as well as concerning the choices proper for us, as individuals and as communities. But just how we are to achieve such ultimate understandings has been the subject of a variety of proposals. Throughout history, and across cultures, there have been expressions of the search for wisdom. We might note, for example, the Vedas of ancient India, the sacred Scriptures of the Jewish people, the teachings of Confucius and Lao-Tzu in China, as well as of the Buddha and his followers in India and East Asia. More recently, of course, there have appeared the Gospels of Christianity and the Koran of Muslim peoples. We also should note, within the heritage of the West, the discourses of the Greek philosophers (especially Plato and Aristotle), as well as those of later thinkers. Each of the above, we might say, has offered a path to understanding—a more or less formal and rigorous means by which persons concerned with ultimate matters might pursue their objective. Catholic tradition distinguishes three types of wisdom: infused (or mystical) wisdom, theological wisdom, and philosophical wisdom.2 The first must be received as a direct gift from God; the second can be acquired through a study of God’s revelation in light of human experience and reflection; and the third, philosophical wisdom (with which we shall be concerned), is a work of human reason itself. As Ar-  1. As an aid to the student, terms introduced in italics, along with brief accounts of their meanings, are gathered together in the book’s Glossary. 2. On this matter, see Jacques Maritain, Science and Wisdom, trans. Bernard Wall (London : Geoffrey Bles, 1940), 22–25. istotle pointed out (Metaphysics, book I, chap. 2), a search for the lastmentioned type of wisdom has its origin in wonder—a deep concern about how things are, and about the types of persons and communities we should strive to become. Moreover, philosophical wisdom is achieved, to the extent possible in this life, through rational analysis, reflection, and theory related to the above-noted questions. For present purposes, therefore, wisdom (i.e., philosophical wisdom) can be defined as a comprehensive understanding—arrived at via rational analysis, reflection , and theory—concerning the way things ultimately are and the way we humans ultimately should act. And philosophy itself can be said to be a love of or a search for wisdom, understood in precisely this way. In this book we develop and explore one approach to philosophical wisdom—an approach rooted, as noted in the Preface, in what the late Pope John Paul II termed the “great tradition.”3 Our focus will be the dimension of that tradition represented by the school of St. Thomas Aquinas. But before undertaking this task, we should note a number of other preliminary points. First, although there are wide differences in people’s ways of reasoning about how things are, there also are certain remarkable affinities . Writers sometimes speak, therefore, of a “common sense” understanding that lies at the base of philosophy. In this vein, John Paul himself spoke of an “implicit philosophy” that is shared in some measure by all and that thus “should serve as a kind of reference point for the different philosophical schools.” Indeed, he went so far as to refer to “a core of philosophical insight” that includes, for example, “the principles of non-contradiction, finality and causality, as well as the concept of the person as a free and intelligent subject, with the capacity to know God, truth and goodness” (Fides et ratio, sec. 4). Some may wonder whether all people can be said to share, even implicitly, all of the ideas just noted. However, the success of such ventures as the United Nations’ “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (1948) 3. See John Paul II, Fides et ratio [On the Relationship between Faith and Reason], Vatican translation (Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 1998), sec. 85. (Hereafter, references to this document often will be made in the text, with the title followed by the section number.)   introduction suggests that a common fund of human wisdom indeed is in some way possessed...