Faith and Reason: What Is Reason?

Part 3: What Is Reason?

In the previous reflection, we explored what faith truly is. It is not blind belief, but trust in the God who speaks. Faith is not opposed to reason. In fact, it depends on it.

This leads to a deeper question: What exactly do we mean by reason?

Like faith, the word reason has taken on different meanings throughout history. To understand how reason relates to faith and why the two are not in conflict, we need to look more closely at what reason is and how its meaning has changed over time.

Reason Before It Was Reduced

In the classical world, reason (logos in Greek) referred to much more than formal logic or problem-solving. It included everything that distinguished humans from animals: our ability to deduce, define, intuit, wonder, perceive beauty, make moral judgments, and contemplate what lies beyond. Even mystical insight was sometimes considered a form of higher reason.

For thinkers like Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Plato, and Aristotle, reason was a faculty of the soul that sought truth, order, and meaning in the cosmos. It was broad, human, and profound.

Over time, this rich view began to shrink.

How the Meaning of Reason Changed

Three key thinkers played major roles in narrowing the concept of reason.

Socrates

Socrates emphasized careful definition, clarity, and argument. For him, reason meant exposing confusion and testing assumptions through dialogue. This sharpened human thought and laid the foundation for logic, but it also moved away from earlier, more intuitive understandings of reason.

Descartes

René Descartes pushed things further in the 17th century. He applied a mathematical model to all thinking. Reason became defined by doubt, proof, and certainty. Everything that could not be proven step by step was treated with suspicion. Reason became mechanical and methodical.

Kant

Immanuel Kant introduced an even more dramatic shift. He taught that our reason does not discover reality as it is. Instead, it shapes and filters our experience of the world. According to Kant, we cannot know things as they truly are, only as they appear to us. This made reason more psychological and less capable of giving us objective knowledge.

The Shrinking of the Human Mind

These changes have deeply influenced modern culture. Today, many people think reason only applies to what can be tested, measured, or proven in a lab.

But that kind of reasoning cannot answer life’s biggest questions:

• What is justice?

• Is there meaning in suffering?

• What is beauty?

• What happens after death?

These are not scientific questions, but they are still real. They need a fuller view of reason, one that includes philosophy, moral insight, and even the humility to receive divine revelation.

Faith and Reason: Not Opposed, Not Separate

Once we understand what reason truly is, we can better see how it relates to faith.

Some thinkers have taken extreme positions:

• Rationalism says that everything worth knowing can be known through reason alone.

• Fideism says that only faith can give us truth and that reason cannot be trusted.

• Dualism treats faith and reason as if they belong to entirely different spheres.

The Catholic tradition rejects all of these. It teaches that faith and reason work together. Some truths, such as God’s existence or the natural moral law, can be known through reason. Others, like the Trinity or the Incarnation, go beyond what reason alone can reach. Yet none of them are irrational.

As St. John Paul II beautifully wrote:

“Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth.”(Fides et Ratio, Introduction)

Can Faith and Reason Ever Contradict Each Other?

Many people wonder, what happens if reason seems to tell me one thing, and faith another?

The Catholic answer is this: If both faith and reason come from God, they cannot truly contradict each other. If we find a conflict, something has gone wrong in our understanding.

There are two possibilities:

1. We have misunderstood the teaching of the faith.

2. We have reasoned incorrectly or based our conclusions on faulty assumptions.

Since God is the author of both creation and revelation, He does not teach two different truths. Rightly used, our reason helps us receive and understand what God has revealed. And when we reason well, we are participating in something divine.

This is why the Church has always valued philosophy. She welcomes reason as a partner in the search for truth.

Reason Is Not Just Logic. It Leads to Love.

Reason is not cold. It is not limited to argument and calculation. At its best, reason seeks wisdom. It asks not only what is true, but also what is good and what is beautiful.

As St. Augustine reminds us, truth is meant to change us. We seek to understand in order to love and serve God more fully. Knowledge is not the end. The purpose of reason is transformation.

In this light, faith and reason are not rivals. They are allies. Together, they guide the human soul toward truth, goodness, and communion with God.

Coming Next: Are Faith and Reason Compatible?

In Part 4, we will look directly at how faith and reason relate. Can something be reasonable even if it cannot be proven? What does it mean to call faith “reasonable”? And how do we hold fast when our beliefs are challenged?

Let’s continue the journey.