In 1879, very early in his pontificate, Leon XIII wrote Aeterni Patris, an encyclical letter entirely devoted to the theme of philosophical formation. In the very first pages of his letter officially entitled On The Restoration of Christian Philosophy, he gives eight reasons why it is important for Catholics to learn philosophy and to engage in philosophical debates.
Before presenting the first of these reasons, it is perhaps appropriate to recall that Europe, at the time of the papacy of Leo, was in the midst of great political and ideological turmoil, due to the continuous spread of modern and liberal ideas which challenged the political and cultural order of the traditional West, based on the monarchical tradition and the Christian religion. Most worrying for the Church was the spread of philosophical misconceptions, which accelerated the process of secularization among the various national elites, but also at the grassroots level, among the growing working class.
In order to meet the political challenge of democracy, which was still a novelty at that time in Europe, Leo XIII was to write an encyclical letter in 1892 inviting the Catholics of France who were viscerally opposed to the republican order to embrace and evangelize at the same time the new regime, established some fifteen years ago. To address the problem of economic injustice and poverty, Leo XIII published in 1991 Rerum Novarum, an innovative work that would become the cornerstone of what we today call the social doctrine of the Church.
What is very revealing is that Leo XIII decided to tackle the problem of intellectual corruption by modern ideologies from the very beginning of his pontificate, a clear sign that he was aware of what was at stake: the very understanding of the Truth by Catholics, from which behaviour and practice obviously derive. In the following passage we see how critical Leo saw the cultural situation of society, and how aware he was that the remedy for such a critical problem lay, not entirely, but partly in the "restoration of Christian philosophy":
"Whoso turns his attention to the bitter strifes of these days and seeks a reason for the troubles that vex public and private life must come to the conclusion that a fruitful cause of the evils which now afflict, as well as those which threaten, us lies in this: that false conclusions concerning divine and human things, which originated in the schools of philosophy, have now crept into all the orders of the State, and have been accepted by the common consent of the masses. For, since it is in the very nature of man to follow the guide of reason in his actions, if his intellect sins at all his will soon follows; and thus it happens that false opinions, whose seat is in the understanding, influence human actions and pervert them. Whereas, on the other hand, if men be of sound mind and take their stand on true and solid principles, there will result a vast amount of benefits for the public and private good."
Leo was aware that evangelization is the first answer to the spiritual decline of the West, but he was also convinced that philosophy was to play a great role in this endeavour of evangelizing the modern world. Here’s was he says about it:
"We do not, indeed, attribute such force and authority to philosophy as to esteem it equal to the task of combating and rooting out all errors; for, when the Christian religion was first constituted, it came upon earth to restore it to its primeval dignity by the admirable light of faith, diffused "not by persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the manifestation of spirit and of power", so also at the present time we look above all things to the powerful help of Almighty God to bring back to a right understanding the minds of man and dispel the darkness of error. But the natural helps with which the grace of the divine wisdom, strongly and sweetly disposing all things, has supplied the human race are neither to be despised nor neglected, chief among which is evidently the right use of philosophy. For, not in vain did God set the light of reason in the human mind; and so far is the super-added light of faith from extinguishing or lessening the power of the intelligence that it completes it rather, and by adding to its strength renders it capable of greater things."
Here Pope Leo reaffirms the traditional doctrine of the Church on the complementarity of faith and reason. In the "win-win" relationship between faith and reason, reason clearly benefits from the divine wisdom received from above through grace, a supernatural gift of absolute necessity if "greater things" are to be achieved. But faith also benefits from the help of reason, which is, as Leo XIII has just reminded us in the preceding quotation, a gift of God's Providence. And from this very fact, the Pope draws the following conclusion:
"Therefore, Divine Providence itself requires that, in calling back the people to the paths of faith and salvation, advantage should be taken of human science also [which includes philosophy] - an approved and wise practice which history testifies was observed by the most illustrious Fathers of the Church. They, indeed, were wont neither to belittle nor undervalue the part that reason had to play, as is summed up by the great Augustine when he attributes to this science "that by which the most wholesome faith is begotten ...is nourished, defended, and made strong."
The first reason why philosophy matters for Catholicism, thus, is this: it prepares the mind, the soul and the heart to welcome the Revelation of God. Here’s Pope Leo again:
"In the first place, philosophy, if rightly made use of by the wise, in a certain way tends to smooth and fortify the road to true faith, and to prepare the souls of its disciples for the fit reception of revelation; for which reason it is well called by ancient writers sometimes a stepping stone to the Christian faith, sometimes the prelude and help of Christianity, sometimes the Gospel teacher."
How exactly does philosophy prepare the way for Revelation? By leading to some crucial truths that God has personally revealed to us throughout the history of salvation, but which reason has also been able to conquer by itself in the course of the development of philosophical thought, thus confirming the truthfulness of Revelation.
“It is most fitting, says the Pope, to turn these truths, which have been discovered by the pagan sages even, to the use and purposes of revealed doctrine, in order to show that both human wisdom and the very testimony of our adversaries serve to support the Christian faith-a method which is not of recent introduction, but of established use, and has often been adopted by the holy Fathers of the Church."
We should care about the testimony of reason, asserts Pope Leo, because it confirms and strengthen the testimony of faith, and therefore it is a strong incentive to enter into the supernatural experience of encountering God, listening to His Word and obeying Him in Faith.
“...who does not see that a plain and easy road is opened up to faith by such a method of philosophic study?” asks Pope Leo at the end of paragraph 4 of Aeterni Patris.
This capacity of reason to corroborate the revealed truths received in faith is the first of the eight reasons why philosophical formation is important for Catholics, according to Leo XIII. If you want to know what are the seven other reasons, I invite you to read numbers 5 to 7 of the encyclical.
(revised and corrected on 07-21-2020)
Before presenting the first of these reasons, it is perhaps appropriate to recall that Europe, at the time of the papacy of Leo, was in the midst of great political and ideological turmoil, due to the continuous spread of modern and liberal ideas which challenged the political and cultural order of the traditional West, based on the monarchical tradition and the Christian religion. Most worrying for the Church was the spread of philosophical misconceptions, which accelerated the process of secularization among the various national elites, but also at the grassroots level, among the growing working class.
In order to meet the political challenge of democracy, which was still a novelty at that time in Europe, Leo XIII was to write an encyclical letter in 1892 inviting the Catholics of France who were viscerally opposed to the republican order to embrace and evangelize at the same time the new regime, established some fifteen years ago. To address the problem of economic injustice and poverty, Leo XIII published in 1991 Rerum Novarum, an innovative work that would become the cornerstone of what we today call the social doctrine of the Church.
What is very revealing is that Leo XIII decided to tackle the problem of intellectual corruption by modern ideologies from the very beginning of his pontificate, a clear sign that he was aware of what was at stake: the very understanding of the Truth by Catholics, from which behaviour and practice obviously derive. In the following passage we see how critical Leo saw the cultural situation of society, and how aware he was that the remedy for such a critical problem lay, not entirely, but partly in the "restoration of Christian philosophy":
"Whoso turns his attention to the bitter strifes of these days and seeks a reason for the troubles that vex public and private life must come to the conclusion that a fruitful cause of the evils which now afflict, as well as those which threaten, us lies in this: that false conclusions concerning divine and human things, which originated in the schools of philosophy, have now crept into all the orders of the State, and have been accepted by the common consent of the masses. For, since it is in the very nature of man to follow the guide of reason in his actions, if his intellect sins at all his will soon follows; and thus it happens that false opinions, whose seat is in the understanding, influence human actions and pervert them. Whereas, on the other hand, if men be of sound mind and take their stand on true and solid principles, there will result a vast amount of benefits for the public and private good."
Leo was aware that evangelization is the first answer to the spiritual decline of the West, but he was also convinced that philosophy was to play a great role in this endeavour of evangelizing the modern world. Here’s was he says about it:
"We do not, indeed, attribute such force and authority to philosophy as to esteem it equal to the task of combating and rooting out all errors; for, when the Christian religion was first constituted, it came upon earth to restore it to its primeval dignity by the admirable light of faith, diffused "not by persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the manifestation of spirit and of power", so also at the present time we look above all things to the powerful help of Almighty God to bring back to a right understanding the minds of man and dispel the darkness of error. But the natural helps with which the grace of the divine wisdom, strongly and sweetly disposing all things, has supplied the human race are neither to be despised nor neglected, chief among which is evidently the right use of philosophy. For, not in vain did God set the light of reason in the human mind; and so far is the super-added light of faith from extinguishing or lessening the power of the intelligence that it completes it rather, and by adding to its strength renders it capable of greater things."
Here Pope Leo reaffirms the traditional doctrine of the Church on the complementarity of faith and reason. In the "win-win" relationship between faith and reason, reason clearly benefits from the divine wisdom received from above through grace, a supernatural gift of absolute necessity if "greater things" are to be achieved. But faith also benefits from the help of reason, which is, as Leo XIII has just reminded us in the preceding quotation, a gift of God's Providence. And from this very fact, the Pope draws the following conclusion:
"Therefore, Divine Providence itself requires that, in calling back the people to the paths of faith and salvation, advantage should be taken of human science also [which includes philosophy] - an approved and wise practice which history testifies was observed by the most illustrious Fathers of the Church. They, indeed, were wont neither to belittle nor undervalue the part that reason had to play, as is summed up by the great Augustine when he attributes to this science "that by which the most wholesome faith is begotten ...is nourished, defended, and made strong."
The first reason why philosophy matters for Catholicism, thus, is this: it prepares the mind, the soul and the heart to welcome the Revelation of God. Here’s Pope Leo again:
"In the first place, philosophy, if rightly made use of by the wise, in a certain way tends to smooth and fortify the road to true faith, and to prepare the souls of its disciples for the fit reception of revelation; for which reason it is well called by ancient writers sometimes a stepping stone to the Christian faith, sometimes the prelude and help of Christianity, sometimes the Gospel teacher."
How exactly does philosophy prepare the way for Revelation? By leading to some crucial truths that God has personally revealed to us throughout the history of salvation, but which reason has also been able to conquer by itself in the course of the development of philosophical thought, thus confirming the truthfulness of Revelation.
“It is most fitting, says the Pope, to turn these truths, which have been discovered by the pagan sages even, to the use and purposes of revealed doctrine, in order to show that both human wisdom and the very testimony of our adversaries serve to support the Christian faith-a method which is not of recent introduction, but of established use, and has often been adopted by the holy Fathers of the Church."
We should care about the testimony of reason, asserts Pope Leo, because it confirms and strengthen the testimony of faith, and therefore it is a strong incentive to enter into the supernatural experience of encountering God, listening to His Word and obeying Him in Faith.
“...who does not see that a plain and easy road is opened up to faith by such a method of philosophic study?” asks Pope Leo at the end of paragraph 4 of Aeterni Patris.
This capacity of reason to corroborate the revealed truths received in faith is the first of the eight reasons why philosophical formation is important for Catholics, according to Leo XIII. If you want to know what are the seven other reasons, I invite you to read numbers 5 to 7 of the encyclical.
(revised and corrected on 07-21-2020)