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THE DOUBLE FAITH THEORY IN CLEMENT, SAADIA, AVERROES AND ST. THOMAS, AND ITS ORIGIN IN ARISTOTLE AND THE STOICS By HARRY AUSTRYN WOLFSON, Harvard University THERE are many phases to the problem of the relation of faith to reason and on almost every phase of this problem there is a considerable literature. It is not our purpose in this study to go over this familiar ground. Our purpose is to answer a single question which we have put to ourself. In the discussion of any problem of religion in its relation to philosophy in the Middle Ages, we find that the problem had its origin in the identification of some Scriptural term or concept with some corresponding philosophic term or concept. In the problem of creation, for instance, it was only when the Scriptural Creator became the philosophic Immovable Mover and Scriptural creation became philo- sophic substantial motion that the problem as we know it made its appearance. We therefore asked ourself whether in the problem of the relation of faith to reason there is in philosophy any term, analogous to that of motion with reference to creation, with which the Scriptural term faith was identified and out of which indentification there arose the problem as well as the various mediaeval theories of the relation of faith to reason. In answer to this question we shall show how already in Greek philosophy there was a conception of faith, according to which faith is the acceptance of the truth of two kinds of knowledge, one a knowledge whose truth is self-evident and not based on demonstration and the other a knowledge [105] 213 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW whose truth is based on demonstration. Then we shall try to show that in the discussion of the relation of faith to reason in the religious literature of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, the problem, as it formulated itself, was whether faith in its religious sense as used in the various Scriptures meant, as the term faith meant in philosophy, (1) the acceptance of the teachings of Scripture both as a self- evident truth and as a demonstrated truth, or whether, unlike the term faith in philosophy, it meant the acceptance of the teachings of Scripture (2) only as a self-evident truth or (3) only as a demonstrated truth. We shall refer to these three views respectively as (1) the double faith theory,' (2) the single faith theory of the authoritarian type, and (3) the single faith theory of the rationalist type. We may also observe that what we call here the double faith theory is to be distinguished from what is generally known as the double truth theory. The latter, in the opinion of the present writer, has a history and significance quite different from that which it is generally supposed to have. Following this analysis of the problem, we shall examine representative discussions of the relation of faith to reason in the various philosophic literatures. In the present paper we shall deal only with the double faith theory. As exponents of this view, we have selected Clement of Alexandria, representing the Greek Church Fathers, Saadia and Averroes, representing Arabic philos- ophy, Jewish and Moslem respectively, and St. Thomas, representing mediaeval Latin philosophy. We shall analyze the views of these four philosophers and present them according to a common pattern. In the case of each one of 1 The description of faith as "twofold" occurs in the Stromata, II, 11, of Clement of Alexandria, discussed below ? 2, at n. 56. But this "twofold" faith refers to what he calls "faith of scientific knowledge" and "faith of opinion," which is not the same as that which we call here "double faith." 214 [106] DOUBLE FAITH THEORY-WOLFSON them we shall first try to show that he was conscious of the double faith theory as a purely philosophical concept, and then, we shall try to show, how each one of them similarly developed a double faith theory as a religious concept. ?1. THE ARISTOTELIAN 'FAITH' AND THE STOIC 'ASSENT' The particular use of the term faith in Greek philosophic literature, which is necessary for our purpose as the historical background for the use of that term later in the various religious literatures, occurs first in Aristotle. In Plato, the term faith is used only as a designation of a special kind of knowledge in his general scheme of dividing knowledge into sensation (alOrfaots), opinion (66}a) and scientific knowledge (ia7rtor-/1r).Ia Faith (7rLTLrs) to him, together with conjecture (CiKaoa'a), is a subdivision of opinion.2 Now in Aristotle, the term faith is still sometimes used in the sense of a special kind of knowledge, in such a passage as that, for instance, in which he says that faith is a vehe- ment assumption (vbr6X\7t'Ls o'poSp&),3 assumption itself being used by him as somewhat the equivalent of opinion or as a sort of opinion.4 But from many other passages in which Aristotle speaks of faith, we may gather that he also uses that term not in the sense of a particular kind of knowledge by the side of the other kinds of knowledge, but rather in the sense of a judgment of the truth of all the other kinds of knowledge, that is to say, as a judgment that the knowledge we have of a thing, be it sensation or opinion or scientific knowledge, corresponds to the reality Ia Theat., 187A ff.; cf. Zeller, Plato and the Older Academy, p. 171; Grote, Plato, II, p. 374, n. 1. 2 Zeller, op. cit., p. 174, n. 14. 3 Top., IV, 5, 126b, 18. 4 Cf. J. A. Stewart, Notes on the Nicomachean Ethics, IV, 3, 1139b, 17 (II, 34); J. Geyser, Die Erkenntnistheorie des Aristoteles, pp.147-49. [107] 215 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW of a thing- correspondence to reality being that which, according to him, constitutes truth.5 In this new sense of the term, faith would seem to be regarded by Aristotle, in its relation to the various types of knowledge, in the same way as he regards consciousness in its relation to the knowledge of sense-perception. With regard to consciousness, he says that "there is also a kind of common faculty that is associated with all the particular senses, by the virtue of which a person is conscious (alaO&- verca) that he sees and hears."6 Similarly with regard to faith, he could have said, though he does not explicitly say so, that there is a certain faculty of judgment in the mind, by virtue of which a person comes to believe and to be certain that the knowledge he possesses is true. Thus, speaking of what he calls indemonstrable and immediately known "primary premises" (apXal), he says, "things are true and primary which obtain faith not on the strength of anything else but of themselves."7 Again, speaking of opinion, of which he says that "it may be true or false,"8 he also says that "opinion is attended by faith, for it is impossible to hold opinions without faith in them,"9 and "further, every opinion implies faith (7TrlTrt), faith implies persuasion (r6 7rE7TrerOaC), and persuasion implies reason (X6oyos)."1? Finally, referring to sensation and demonstra- tive reasoning, he says that "faith is not only on the strength of sensation but also on the strength of reason (X6'oVo)"i or that "faith concerning this is from induction and syllogistic proof."I2 s Metaph., IV, 7, 101b, 27. 6 De Somno, 2, 455a, 15-16; cf. De An., III, 2, 425b, 12. 7 Top., I, 1, lOOa, 30-100b, 18. 8 De An., III, 3, 428a, 19. 9 Ibid., 19-21. Io Ibid., 22-23. -" Phys., VIII, 8, 262a, 18-19. 12 De Soph. Eleuch., 4, 165b, 27-28; Anal. Post., III, 3, 90b, 14; Top., I, 8, 103b, 7. 216 [108] DOUBLE FAITH THEORY-WOLFSON From all these passages we may gather, then, that by faith in this new sense of the term Aristotle means the consciousness of the certainty of the truth of our knowledge, and that this consciousness of certainty, called faith, may, according to him, be associated with two kinds of knowl- edge: (1) animmediate kind of knowledge, such as sensa- tion and primary premises, and (2) a derivative kind of knowledge, such as that which is based on reason. Though of this latter kind of knowledge, to which Aristotle says that the term faith is applicable, he mentions explicitly only 'opinion,' yet from his statement that faith follows syllogistic reasoning one would be justified in inferring that the term 'faith' would apply also to scientific knowledge (f'rt~ar'/jr), for scientific knowledge, to him, is the con- clusion (arv/utrpaoarua) of a syllogistic proof.I3 Indeed, conclusions in scientific proofs, unlike opinions, are said by Aristotle to follow from their premises by necessity,I4 and hence their acceptance would seem to imply no persuasion. On the basis of this, one would therefore be tempted to say that, unlike opinion, scientific knowledge is not a matter of faith, for the latter, as Aristotle himself says, does imply persuasion.15 But the persuasion which Aristotle says is implied in faith is itself said by him to imply reason,'6 and nowhere does he say that this is to be only a faulty kind of reason and one which is to lead only to an inconclusive demonstration and hence only to opinion. On the contrary, it may be also that sound kind of reason which leads to a conclusive demonstration and hence to scientific knowledge. The very fact that he applies the term faith to primary premises whose truth is self-evident argues for the assump- '3 Eth. Nic., VI, 3, 1139b, 31-36. '4 Ibid., 18-24; Metaph., V, 5, 1015b, 6-9; cf. below ?2, n. 53; ? 3, n. 84; ? 5, n. 160. 's Cf. above n. 10. I6 Ibid. [109] 217 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW tion that he would also apply it to conclusions which follow from primary premises. Still, despite all this, it is true that explicitly Aristotle does not use the term faith with reference to scientific knowledge; only the terms sensation, opinion and primary premises are explicitly used by him in this connection. Let us keep this observation in mind for future reference; it will become of importance in our discussion of St. Thomas.'7 The fact that Aristotle always speaks of faith as a judg- ment of the truth of our knowledge, and never as a judg- ment of the goodness of our desires, would seem to indicate that, according to him, faith was only a function of the speculative intellect (vovs OewpfrnK6s), for it is the speculative intellect to which he ascribes the power to distinguish between truth and falsehood in the abstract.'8 It would not be a function, according to him, of the practical intellect (vovs TrpaKTLKOS), to which he ascribes the power to distinguish between what is good and desirable and what is not good and undesirable.19 And if we are right in this conclusion that Aristotle considered faith as a function of the speculative intellect only, and not of the practical intellect, then we would be right also in concluding that Aristotle did not make faith dependent upon free choice (7rpoalpec?s) or will (/3ovXfraLs), for free choice and will, according to him, are the result of the cooperation of practical intellect with desire.20 In fact, we find that at least in one place Aristotle makes use of another term as a designation of the judgment of the practical intellect as to the desirability or the good of a thing. In that one passage, speaking of the method of determining "which is the more 17 Cf. below ? 5. I8 Eth. Nic., VI, 2, 1139a, 27-28; cf. De An., III, 9, 432b, 27 ff. '9 Eth. Nic., VI, 2, 1139a, 29-31; cf. De An., III, 10, 433a, 15 ff. o2 Eth. Nic., VI, 2, 1139a, 21-26; cf. De An., III, 10, 433a, 22-25. [110] 218 DOUBLE FAITH THEORY-WOLFSON desirable, or better, of two or more things,"2I he says that "our reasoning faculty (&L&voLa) will agree or assent (v'yKaTraOTerraL), that whichever side happens to excel is the more desirable."22 According to this passage, then, the judgment of the mind that a thing, on account of its superior excellency, is more desirable and better, is not a matter of faith but rather one of assent (o,vyKaraOeats) and that this assent is in our reasoning faculty (&L&voCa), which term is undoubtedly used in this passage in the sense of the practical intellect. This analysis of Aristotle's conception of faith, based upon carefully selected and controlled texts, could furnish us with all the necessary historical background for the problem which we have undertaken to investigate. But it happens that, by the time the problem of faith in its reli- gious sense makes its appearance, the Aristotelian view has already become combined with similar views propounded by the Stoics. Let us then see what was the Stoic view, and how it became combined with that of Aristotle. In the literature which records the teachings of the Stoics, only one definition of faith is to be found. It is said of them that they defined faith as "a strong assumption (V7r6Xr/LS iohxvpa), confirming that which is assumed."23 Now tbis is nothing but a reproduction of Aristotle's statement that faith is a "vehement assumption,"24 which we have quoted above and which, as we have pointed out, refers to faith as a special kind of knowledge by the side of sensation, opinion and scientific knowledge. Of the use of faith in the sense of a judgment of the truth of all the kinds 21 Top., III, 1, 116a, 3. 22 Ibid., 11-12. 23 Stobaeus, Eclogae II, 112.12 (ed. Wachsmuth); Arnim, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, III, 147.11. 24 Cf. above n. 3. Wachsmuth's change of Vro6X0\Lts to KaTarLX?p)I in the Eclogae (loc. cit.), which is adopted by Arnim (loc. cit.), is therefore unnecessary. [11] 219 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW of knowledge, such as we have found in Aristotle, the Stoics do not speak. They do speak, however, of assent (arv'yKaTa- Oeats) as being such a judgment. Now in Aristotle, as we have seen, the term assent, as a verb, is used with reference to the judgment of the practical intellect as to whether a thing is desirable and good. What the Stoic seems to have done here, therefore, is to extend the meaning of that term so as to include also the meaning of Aristotle's term faith and thus to use it as a judgment of the truth of a thing as well as a judgment of the goodness of a thing. This extension on the part of the Stoics of the meaning of the Aristotelian term 'assent' so as to include both the judgments of practical intellect and the judgments of speculative intellect has led them to speak of assent as an act of free will (ktp' 7/u,tv),25 even when it is used in the sense of Aristotle's use of the term faith, namely, as a judgment of truth. This would seem to be a departure from Aristotle. To Aristotle, 'assent,' as a judgment of the good of a thing, is indeed an act of free will, for virtue is defined by him as an act of deliberate choice (TrpoalpEoLs),26 but, as for 'faith,' he would probably say that it is an act of deliberate choice only when applied to opinion, of which he says that it implies 'persuasion."27 With reference, however, to scientific knowledge, to which the term faith is undoubtedly applied by him,28 he would probably say that it is not an act of deliberate choice, for the determina- tion of truth is according to him an act of the speculative intellect, in contradistinction to deliberate choice which is an act of the practical intellect.29 Furthermore, he explicitly 25 Cf. Index to Arnim, op. cit., p. 136, col. 1, 11. 7-12; cf. Zeller, Stoics. Epicureans, and Sceptics, p. 87, n. 1. 26 Eth. Nic., II, 6, 1106b, 36-1107a, 2. 27 Cf. above n. 10. 28 Cf. above text at n. 16 ff. 9 Cf. above n. 20. 220 [112] DOUBLE FAITH THEORY-WOLFSON says that demonstrations by which the conclusions of scientific knowledge are established belong to those things which are necessary and that similarly the conclusions in such demonstrations, by reason of the fact thatthey cannot be otherwise, must likewise be necessary.30 Still this difference between the Stoics and Aristotle is not of real significance. The free will which the Stoics attribute to the act of assenting to the truth of our knowledge does not mean a freedom of choice in an absolutely undetermined sense. Their freedom of choice in the assent to the true, like Aristotle's freedom of choice in the assent to the good, merely means a choice free from any per- ceptible external compulsion and one which is made by the agent with a full knowledge of the rightness or wrongness of his act.31 In this case, as in many other cases, one may quote Cicero's statement to the effect that the difference be- tween the Stoics and Aristotle is only one of terminology.32 With the extension of the meaning of the term assent to include under it what Aristotle calls faith, the Stoics use this term as a judgment of truth with reference to all those immediate and derivative kinds of knowledge in relation to which Aristotle uses the term faith. With reference to sensation, they say that "all sensation is an assent,"33 or that the perception by the senses "cannot take place without assent."34 Similarly with reference to indemon- strable primary promises, they say that "the notions of things" (notitiae rerum), in the same way as memory and 30 Metaph., V, 5, 1015b, 7-8; 1015a, 33-35. 3I Cf. Zeller, op. cit. (n. 25), p. 87, n. 1; p. 205; J. S. Reid, M. Tulli Ciceronis Academica, p. 223, n. to 1. 20. 32 De Fznibus, IV, 9, 21. 33Aetius, Placita, IV, 8, 12 (Diels, Doxographi Graeci, p. 397); Arnim, op. cit., II, 26.39-40. 34 Cicero, Academica Priora II, 12, 37; Academica Posteriora I, 11, 40; Arnim, op. cit., II, 35, 12; I, 19, 1-3. [113] 221 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW art, can have no existence without assent.35 And so also with reference to acquired knowledge, they say that "all opinion (66aa) and judgment (KpnLts) and assumption (v7r6Xr\/tLs) and learning (lu07criLs), by which we live and have perpetual intercourse with the human race, is an assent."36 While, as in Aristotle, there is no definite state- ment by the Stoics that assent attends scientific knowledge which results from demonstration proofs, the term ,u&arOaLs used in this last-quoted passage is undoubtedly the equiv- alent of CirtOrrn/ur and means scientific knowledge.37 These then are the essential elements in the discussion of faith in Greek philosophy as a purely epistemological term. The salient point in this conception of faith is that it is of a double nature. It may be faith with reference to something immediately known as true without any demon- stration, such, for instance, as sense-perception and primary premises, or it may be faith with reference to something known by demonstration, such as opinion and undoubtedly also scientific knowledge. Now it was quite natural for Christian and Jewish and Moslem philosophers, to whom revelation was a new immediate source of knowledge in addition to the sources enumerated by the Greek philos- ophers, and to whom the teachings of Scripture, while having its origin in revelation, could also be demonstrated by reason, to raise the question whether faith in these teachings, which is enjoined by Scripture itself, means the same as the term faith used in philosophy or whether it means something else. In the former case, it would have a double meaning, namely, assent to the teachings of Scrip- 35 Cicero, Academica Priora II, 12, 38; Arnim, op. cit., II, 35, 15-17. 36 Clement of Alexandria, Strom., II, 12 (Migne, Patrologia Graeca, 8, 992C; ed. Stahlin, II, 142.26-28). 37 The term /iaOr7aLs Ltavor7TK77 in Anal. Post., I, 1, 71a, 1, is undoubtedly used by Aristotle in the sense of iTrLo'rflyV, which he discusses subsequently in 2, 716, 9 ff. [114] 222 DOUBLE FAITH THEORY-WOLFSON ture both as immediately known by revelation and as derivatively known by demonstration. In the latter case, it would have only a single meaning, namely, assent to the teachings of Scripture either (1) only as immediately known by revelation or (2) only as derivatively known by demon- stration, the two views which we have designated respec- tively as (1) the authoritarian single faith theory and (2) the rationalist single faith theory. ?2. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA The first to apply this Aristotelian double faith theory to the problem of the relation of philosophy to Scripture is Clement of Alexandria. He is also the first to combine the Aristotelian term faith with the Stoic term assent. He thus speaks of faith as an assent of the soul (/vx7s rv?yKara- o0eLs)38 and, reflecting more closely Aristotle's statement that "our reasoning faculty (tlavota) will assent ovy'Ka- raOrfoerat)," he uses also the expression "on assent of the reasoning faculty" (oavyKaTaOeLats &Lavolas).39 Once, after quoting in the name of the Stoics their statement that "all opinion and judgment and assumption and learning... is an assent,"40 he adds "which is nothing else than faith."41 Again, following the Stoics he also maintains that assent is an act of choice (TpoaCpecfts),42 or that it is voluntary (gKocLos) ,43 or that it is exercising free will (avTrEov(Lotos),44 or that it is in our power (ehp' ,/Uv).45 38 Stromata, V, 13 (Migne, Patrologia Graeca, 9, 128A; ed. Stahlin, II, 383. 1). English translation in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, II. 39 Ibid., VIII, 5 (9, 581A; III, 90.3). 40 Cf. above, ? 1 n. 36. 41 This seems to be Clement's own addition. It is so taken by Arnim, who does not include it as a quotation from the Stoics (cf. Arnim, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, II, 291.1-3). 42 Strom., II, 2 (8, 940B; II, 117.15). 43 Ibid., V, 13 (9, 128A; II, 383.1). 44 Ibid., V, 1 (9, 12C; II, 327.24). 4s Ibid., II, 12 (8, 992C; II, 142.26). [115] 223 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW In this instance, however, though the language used by Clement is the same as that of the Stoics, its meaning is different. To the Stoics, free will merely means act free of external compulsion and based upon knowledge. To Clement it means, as it does to Philo, real freedom which man enjoys as a gift from God.46 His assertion, therefore, that assent is a voluntary act really means that we are absolutely free either to believe that a thing is true or not to believe that it is true. Again, as faith in Aristotle and assent in the Stoics, so also faith which is assent in Clement is a judgment of the truth of our knowledge, whether it be of the immediate kind of knowledge or of the demonstrative kind. With regard to the application of the term faith to immediate knowledge, such as what Aristotle calls "primary premises" and the Stoics as well as the Epicureans call "preconcep- tions," he makes the following statement: "Epicurus, too, who very greatly preferred pleasure to truth, assumes faith to be a preconception of the mind (7rp6Xr\7qts &tavolas); and defines preconception to be a grasping at something evident, and at the clear understanding of a thing; and asserts that without preconception, no one can either inquire, or doubt, or opine, or even argue."47 With regard to derivative knowledge, we have already quoted his restatement of the Stoic use of the term assent with refer- ence to opinion, to which he adds the statement that it is "nothing else than faith."48 But it is quite certain that Clement understood Aristotle as having used the term faith also with reference to that kind of derivative knowledge which is technically known as scientific knowledge, for he states the following in the name 46 Cf. "Philo on Free Will," Harvard Theological Review, XXXV (1942), 131-69. 47 Strom., II, 4 (8, 948B; II, 121.9-13). 48 Cf. above n. 41. 224 [1161 DOUBLE FAITH THEORY-WOLFSON of Aristotle: "Aristotle says that the judgment (KpTu)a) which follows scientific knowledge (Crtro'r7,n) is in truth faith. Accordingly,faith is more decisive than scientific knowledge, and is its criterion. Conjecture (edKaaoa), which is only a feeble assumption (aoOevt7s vir6Xr/ts), counter- feits faith."49 In this passage, his reference to "feeble assumption" as that which "counterfeits faith," evidently reflects Aristotle's statement, quoted above, that faith is a "vehement assumption."50 His statement, however, in the name of Aristotle that faith may also apply to scientific knowledge is not found in Aristotle. As we have shown, there is no direct statement in Aristotle to that effect though it can be indirectly inferred from some of his state- ments.51 This statement, however, is based on a passage in the work of Theodoret of Cyrus, in which this interpre- tation of Aristotle is to be found.52 That Clement himself accepted the use of the term faith with reference to scientific knowledge is quite evident. But how he could reconcile his own definition of faith as a voluntary assent with Aristotle's conception of scientific knowledge as knowledge which follows by necessity as conclusions from the primary premises,53 may only be conjectured. He would probably say that the human mind in its absolute freedom can refuse assent even to conclusions which follow by necessity from their premises, and consequently, when it does assent to them, the assent may be called voluntary. We shall see that St. Thomas has another view on this point.54 Faith with reference to derivative knowledge is thus, according to Clement, of two kinds, namely, either of 49 Strom., II, 4 (8, 945C-948A; II, 120.25-28). 50 Cf. above ? 1, n. 3, and Migne, PG, 8, p. 947, n. 62. 51 Cf. above ? 1, text at n. 17. 52 Cf. Migne, PG, 8, 947, n. 61. The reference is to Theodoretz Graec- orum affectonum curatzo I, 90 (ed. Gaisford, Oxford, 1839). 53 Cf. above ? 1, n. 14. 54 Cf. below ? 5. [117] 225 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW opinion or of scientific knowledge. Now, according to Aristotle, opinion may be either true or false, whereas scientific knowledge, strictly speaking, refers only to knowledge which is true.55 It is evidently with reference to this distinction between opinion and scientific knowledge that faith is described by Clement as being twofold (&BTrr), the faith of scientific knowledge (TrLotrolovtLK) and the faith of opinion (5otaaTKfK).56 The former is a faith in knowledge which is true, whereas the latter is a faith in knowledge which may be either true or false. This, then, is Clement's restatement, in Stoic terms, of Aristotle's conception of faith as a purely epistemological term. Coming now to faith in its religious sense, Clement defines it primarily as "obedience to the commandments."57 Such an obedience to the commandments is also described by him as the grasping of the teachings of Scripture "by faith," in the same way as one grasps an "indemonstrable primary premise" for, like a 'primary premise,' the teach- ings of Scripture are self-evidently true, inasmuch as they have been given to us "by the voice of the Lord."58 Faith, in its religious sense, thus has the meaning of assent to the teachings of Scripture as an immediate sort of knowledge, for which no demonstration is necessary. But, while the teachings of Scripture can be accepted as an immediate truth without any demonstration, it does not mean that they cannot be demonstrated by reason or that one ought not to attempt to demonstrate them by reason. Throughout his work he argues both for the possibility of their being demonstrated by reason and for the desirability of their 55 Cf. Eth. Nic., VI, 3, 1139b, 16-18; Anal. Post., II, 19, 100b, 11-12. 56 Strom., II, 11 (8, 984C; II, 138.20-21). 57 Ibid. (8, 984C; II, 138.27). 58 Ibid., VII, 16 (9, 532C; III, 67.25-28). 226 [118] DOUBLE FAITH THEORY-WOLFSON being so demonstrated.59 But once these teachings of Scripture have been demonstrated by reason, they cease to be true in the sense that a 'primary premise' is true; they become true in the sense that a "conclusion" (arvu7repa- orua) in a valid demonstration is true.60 This, then, is the second meaning of the term faith in its religious sense. Now, strictly speaking, Clement does not use the term faith with reference to the assent to teachings of Scripture after they have become demonstrated by reason. He uses in that connection another term. He calls it knowledge ('yviaLs) - a term adopted by him from the Gnostics but it is often used by him interchangeably with the term scientific knowledge (Crtror-/r) .6I But sometimes this technical distinction is abandoned by him and "knowledge," in the sense of demonstrated Scriptural teachings, and "faith," in the narrow sense of undemonstrated Scriptural teachings, are treated by him as two subdivisions of the term faith taken in a general sense. Thus in one place he says that scientific demonstration produces "scientific faith" (ETtrrntOVLKu) T7rTLrs) which becomes knowledge (yiw,l s).62 The implication is that 'knowledge' is not something different from faith, but rather a sort of faith. In another place he makes the following statement: "Faith is, then, so to speak, an epitomized knowledge (aov- rouos... . yv&o'ts) of the essentials; and knowledge is a strong and sure demonstration of what is received by faith (7rTirrew)."63 Here, again, faith and knowledge are not 59 Ibid., I, 5-7, 9, 20; cf. J. Patrick, Clement of Alexandria, pp. 40-43. 6o Ibid., II, 11 (8, 985A; II, 139.8-11). 6i Ibid., II, 11 (8, 984C; II, 138.17); VI, 17 (9,388A; II, 511.27-30). Cf. Index to Clement of Alexandria's works, ed. Stahlin, IV, under Yvw&Lts, 10. 62 Ibid., II, 11 (8, 985A; II, 139.6-8). According to another reading of the text (cf. MPG, 8, p. 985, n. 4, and ed. Stahlin), scientific dem- onstration is said to produce "faith" which becomes "knowledge." 63 Ibid., VII, 10 (9, 481A; III, 42.3-5). [119] 227 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW different from each other; each implies the other; "knowl- edge," which is a "demonstration of what is received by faith," may, therefore, be called "demonstrated faith," just as it is called by him "scientific faith." In still another place he says that "the discourse which consists of demon- stration implants in the soul of him who follows it the exact faith (aKpLt3l 7irtiLr)."64 But, more than that, Clement throughout his writings tries to establish the equality of these two forms of faith. Arguing against those who already by that time, out of their opposition to the teachings of the Gnostics, opposed the application of philosophy to Scripture, he tries to show how philosophy can contribute to the comprehension of divine truth.65 On the other hand, against the Gnostics, who considered the simple faith of believers as inferior to the demonstrated faith of the Gnostics, he argues that inasmuch as the teachings of Scripture are true, whether they are demonstrated by reason or not, the simple believer is not inferior to the rationalizing theologian. "He is not then imperfect," he says, "who knows what is perfect"66 and "nothing is wanting to faith, as it is perfect and complete in itself."67 The simple believer, therefore, who possesses only 'faith' and the philosopher who possesses also 'knowledge' are equal before God, for "there are not in the same Word some 'gnostics' and some 'psychical men'; but all who have abandoned the desires of the flesh are equal and spiritual before the Lord."68 Indeed, even though undemonstrated faith is not less perfect in the eyes of God than demonstrated 64 Ibid., I, 6 (8,728B; II, 22.2-3). 6s Ibid., I, 20; cf. references above in n. 59. 66 Paedagogus, I, 6 (8, 280A; I, 105.2-3). 67 Ibid. (8, 285A; I, 107.17-18). 68 Ibid. (8, 288A-B; I, 108.23-6); cf. E. De Faye, Clement d'Alex- andrie, pp. 204-5. 228 [120] DOUBLE FAITH THEORY-WOLFSON faith, still, philosophically, he admits, "Knowledgeis, so to speak, a kind of perfection of man as man."69 Con- sequently Clement recommends that believers who started with mere assent to Scriptural teachings to acquire knowl- edge as far as it is possible for them.70 The equality of the two kinds of faith is also implied in his view that both of them are roads to salvation, the one being the long road and the other the short road. This view is expressed by him in the statement that if any Greek, who has been brought up on philosophy, dispenses with reason and assents to the teachings of Scripture, he has chosen "the short-cut to perfection, viz., that of salvation through faith."7' Revelation, in its relation to philosophy, is thus only a short-cut to true knowledge. Why there should be need for such a short-cut and why mankind should not be allowed to work out their salvation by the efforts of their own reason, is explained by his younger contemporary Origen in terms which will prove of importance for us in our subsequent discussion of the problem. Answering Celsus, who spurned faith without reason, he says that "if it were possible for all to leave the business of life, and devote themselves to philosophy, no other method ought to be adopted by anyone, but this alone... But since the course alluded to is impossible, partly on account of the necessities of life, partly on account of the weakness of men, as only a very few individuals devote themselves earnestly to study," it is better for the great multitude of men "to believe without a reason" and "on the strength of mere faith" rather than to wait "until they could give themselves to a thorough examination of the 69 Strom., VII, 10 (9, 477C; III, 40.21-22). 7" Ibid. (9, 477C; III, 40.27-29). 7' Ibid., VII, 2 (9, 416A; III, 9.20-21; Hort and Mayor, Clement of Alexandria's Miscellanies, Book VII, 18.19-21). [121] 229 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW necessary reasons.72 Here, then, we have a statement as well as a justification of the double faith theory. The definition of faith as a voluntary assent, which was introduced by Clement of Alexandria in the particular religious discussion of the relation of faith to reason, be- comes an established term in the discussion of the problem throughout its history in Christian literature, whether Greek or Latin, both among those who follow Clement of Alexandria's particular double faith theory and among those who in opposition to him contended for a single faith theory, either of the authoritarian or the rationalist type. The term appears again in modern philosophy under the guise of practical reason, under which Kant includes all speculations about faith. When William James flashed upon the world his phrase "the will to believe," he was merely giving expression to his own understanding of the old definition of belief as a voluntary assent. But it is not our purpose in this paper to trace the development of this conception of faith. Our purpose is to discuss three other examples, taken from Jewish, Moslem and Christian philos- ophy, of this double faith theory. ?3. SAADIA From the Church Fathers, through personal contact between Moslems and Christians, the problem of the rela- tion of faith to reason was introduced into Islam during the Umayyad period. Later, with the rise of the Mu'tazilite sect, under the second of the Abbasid rulers, speculations about faith and reason developed into a system. But in the writings which record the theological discussions among the Moslems before the time of Saadia (882-1042), with all their wealth of material on particular problems, there is 72 Contra Celsum, I, 9 (MPG, 11, 761B ff.). [122] 230 DOUBLE FAITH THEORY-WOLFSON to be found no extensive discussion of the general problem of the relation of faith to reason. Of the Mu'tazilites we know in a general way that they considered it as a "duty" to arrive at the "knowledge of God" by "speculation and proofs"73 or "by reason,"74 and from what is known of their general attitude it may be inferred that they held a single faith theory of the rationalist type. Similarly from what is known about the Ash'arites we may gather in a general way that they held a single faith theory of the authoritarian type. In Saadia's Emunot ve-De'ot, therefore, we find the first extensive discussion of the relation of faith to reason in Arabic philosophy, whether its Moslem or its Jewish branch. The view represented by Saadia, we shall try to show, is that of the double faith theory, like that we have met with in Clement. As a purely epistemological term, we shall try to show, the term faith is used by him in the sense of a judgment of the truth of both immediate and derivative knowledge. As a religious term, we shall also try to show, it is used by him in the sense of the judgment of the truth of Scriptural teachings both with demonstration and without demonstration, and, moreover, both these two kinds of faith in its religious sense are considered by him as of equal degrees of perfection, each of them being the perfect religion for those to whose needs it is adapted. In presenting now Saadia's view on faith and reason, we shall therefore pursue the method which we have chosen to follow throughout this study, namely, to state first his conception of faith as a purely epistemological term and then his conception of it as a religious term, though in his own discussion the two aspects of the term are merged together. Logically, though not actually, the starting point of his 73 Shahrastani, p. 62, 11. 19-20. 74 Ibid., p. 87, 1. 17. [123] 231 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW discussion is his formal classification of the types of knowl- edge.75 These types of knowledge are divided by him into three, corresponding to what Aristotle would call (1) sensa- tion, (2) primary premises and (3) scientific knowledge. Though this threefold classification of the types of knowl- edge was already a commonplace by the time of Saadia,76 still the terminology used by him needs some comment. Sense perception is described by him as the knowledge of that which is visible.77 The term visible here reflects the Greek 6par6v, which is used as a description of cor- poreal objects which are perceptible by the senses.78 Then, what Aristotle would call primary premises Saadia calls "the knowledge of the intellect."79 This evidently reflects Aristotle's statement that it is the intellect (vovs) which apprehends the primary premises,8? on account of which, in his various classification of types of knowledge, Aristotle himself describes intuitive knowledge by the term vovs.81 75 Emunot ve-De'ot, Hakdamah (ed. Josefov, 1885), ? 5, pp. 43 f. (Arabic, ed. Landauer, p. 12, 11. 17 f.). 76 Cf. references to the Ikhwan al-$afa (Arabic in Dieterici, Die Abhandlungen der Ichwdn es-Safc in Auswahl, pp. 196, 212, 521) in Guttmann, Die Religsonsphilosophie des Saadia, p. 22, n. 5. 77 Emunot ve-De'ot, loc. cit., p. 43 (p. 12, 1. 20- p. 13, 1. 1): [c a.'J.l n1 ,, ny,T,. 78 See, e. g., Timaeus 46D. The same term is also used by the Ikhwan al-$afa in their description of this kind of knowledge; cf. op. cit., p. 196, 11. 4-5; p. 212, 1. 21; p. 521, 1. 4. In Arabic philosophy this term as a description of sensible things has gained currency evi- dently through the additional fact that it is used in that sense in the Koran 9.95. 79 Emunot ve-De'ot, loc. cit. (p. 13, 1. 4): JiAJ I [': I ,n y.' . 80 Anal. Post., II, 19, 100b, 12. But in Emunot ve-De'ot, Hakdamah, ? 2, p. 37 (p. 2, 1. 12) the term ".A.JI j \ J31: 'DWtn Y7D, as may be judged from the context, is used in the sense of ratiocinative thinking, the term J'ic: tv in that passage, unlike the same term in this passage, thus reflecting the Greek X6yos rather than vovs; cf. a similar double use of the Latin term intellectus, below ? 5, n. 154. 8I Anal. Post., II, 19, 100b, 7-8; De An., III,3, 428a, 4-5; Eth. Nic., VI, 3, 1139b, 16-17. 232 [124] DOUBLE FAITH THEORY-WOLFSON Finally, what Aristotle calls scientific knowledge (CerL- a'Trlir), which is identified by him with conclusions of demonstrations, Saadia calls "a certain knowledge which necessity leads up to"82 or "the knowledge of necessary things."83 This expression, too, reflects a passage in Aris- totle which states that "a demonstration is a necessary thing, because the conclusion cannot be otherwise, if there has been demonstration in the full sense; and the causes of this necessity are the first premises, i. e., the fact that the propositions from which the syllogism proceeds cannot be otherwise. "84 Now these three types of knowledge, as will be noticed, fall into two groups, of which one, that which includes sensation and primary premises, is immediate knowledge, and the other, that which includes logical conclusions, is derivative knowledge. Consequently, when Saadia, pre- vious to his classification of the types of knowledge, comes to define faith as the judgment of the truth of knowledge, he has two definitions of it, one with reference to imme- diate knowledge and the other with reference to derivative knowledge. With reference to knowledge that is immediate, he defines faith as "a concept which arises in the soul of anything known according to the condition in which it really is."85 In this definition, the expression "a concept which arises in the soul," I take it, refers to both sense-perception and 82 Emunot ve-De'ot, loc. cit. (p. 13, 1. 1): o,)jsJ1 c?l I. A s 4JO: 1\b mnr n7m;lW Dr nyn'. 83 Ibid. (p. 13, 11. 5-6): ot j.Jl31 L: n'nnDnn y-D. 84 Metaph., V, 5, 1015b, 6-9; cf. above ?1, n. 14; ?2, n. 53, and below ? 5, n. 160. 85 Emunot ve-De'ot, loc. cit., ?4, p. 42 (p. 11, 11. 4-5): '-ni' i3mrn 1'7 m naiy (,5- ) l':Y n; l KDfr<1 .(rs^y l) =mc' n ^. = V ;p^y N1in itDw ;nzDn yl'n- ni- i (W9]3==-^_;)- [125] 233 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW primary premises, reflecting Aristotle's statement about sensation that out of particular sense-perceptions a univer- sal concept (Ka6bXov) is formed in the soul (ev rpj /'vx),86 and also his statement about primary premises that it is the mind (vovs) which apprehends them.87 The expression "of anything known according to the condition in which it really is" is the conventional restatement of the corre- spondence theory of truth as given by Aristotle.88 With reference to derivative knowledge, he defines faith in the following figurative language: "When the cream of speculation is extracted, the intellect takes it under its wings, folds itself around it, causes it to penetrate into the soul and to become intermingled so that man becomes thereby a believer in the concept thus arrived at and he keeps it in reserve for some later occasion or occasions."89 In this passage, the opening statement "when the cream of speculation is extracted" means when by an act of speculation a conclusion is derived from primary premises. The remaining part of the passage means to say that the conclusion, which technically speaking is a "second notion," derived by demonstration from a primary premise or a "first notion," may itself, after it has been fully approbated and accepted by the mind, become a primary premise out of which other conclusions may be derived.90 In Aristotle there is an allusion to the use of conclusions of one demon- 86 Anal. Post., II, 19, 10Ca, 16. 87 Ibid., 100b, 12. 88 Cf. Metaph., IV, 7, 1011b, 27. 89 Emunot ve-De'ot, loc. cit. (p. 11, 11. 5-8): ll'y;l ntin myn T ann 'I,n' nm tarm (nl3D]=@= ) nl:ni 'IwD'1 ,pD'p' iWn. nI)Zp' 0PnO lN mnnN nyi Inyzzl IrH yani 1KN 3'ZYM I'DD -rtNI. 90 On this meaning of "second notions," see Millot ha-Higgayon, Ch. 8, and Rua4 Hen, Ch. 3; Milzamot Adonai, Introduction (p. 4). It differs from the scholastic term "secundae notiones; cf. my The Philosophy of Spinoza, II, pp. 121-22. 234 [126] DOUBLE FAITH THEORY-WOLFSON stration as a premise in another demonstration in his refer- ence to the geometrical proposition that "the angles of every triangle are equal as two right angles" as something which a student "knew beforehand" (rpo'j8E),9' that is to say, as something to be used as a premise in a demon- stration. Now the equality of the angles of a triangle to two right angles is not a self-evident primary premise; it is deduced, as Aristotle himself says elsewhere, from the proposition that a straight line set up on a straight line will make angles equal to two right angles92 or, in other words, it is the conclusion of a demonstration. Saadia then proceeds to show, in true Aristotelian fashion, how each of these three types of knowledge may be either true or false. In the case of the sense of sight, for instance, he says, the knowledge arrived at by it is true when there is a real external object which we see, for, in that case, our knowledge corresponds exactly to reality, inasmuch as our organ of sight is assimilated to the perceptible object and becomes identical with it, and this on account of the likeness between the combining ratios of the same four elements which constitute the forms of both the perceptible objects and the organ of sight.93 It is untrue, when we see the image of an object reflected in a mirror or in water and 91 Anal. Post., I, 1, 71a, 19 ff. 92 Cf. Metaph., IX, 9, 1051a, 24-26, and Euclid, I, 32 and I, 13; cf. also Phys., II, 9, 200a, 16-18, with Ross's Commentary ad loc. 93 Emunot ve-De'ot, loc. cit., p. 45 (p. 15, 11. 15-16): ySn ': nltD3 nnMK 1In btr yN-l 'IbD I ra3n1 1r3a - pl:nI 'nDon m13ln 91I' iv i: elnnn imnvtrn nvo; cf. I, 3(8), p. 74 (p. 20, 11. 7-8): o,,on m,s' 1i'3' ylu'i 12'y y t3: y -D'llnnD Dn^'nn ' rr' nl-li y mK ? K4 H1 nM t DK 'D; II, 12, p. 102 (p. 106, 11. 9-11): ',wm13n a,'r: ot a'D'n: m'K D':Tnm Y1 nl1Kn -W K nnlr Dy D'-nnO131 oD'Yty3 nYiKNI D1'DfnlDnT DorrnoPa lKl'l i' N11m nlyXzp)MrM t"P All this is based upon Aristotle's statement in De An., II, 5, 418a, 5-6, with regard to the sensitive faculty, that "when once it has been acted upon, it is assimilated and has the same character as the sensible object." [127] 235 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW think that that reflection is a real object.94 Similarly in the case of primary notions, he maintains, "all those which are formed in our mind when in a wholesome state are true and not subject to any doubt, provided only that, after we know how to form by speculation such notions, we do form them in a perfect manner."95 As an example of per- fectly formed and hence true notions he mentions such a generally accepted ethical notion as that "truth is good and falsehood is horrid."96 Now these generally accepted ethical notions belong to what Aristotle calls maxims ('iJLgat) in rhetoric,97 describing them as being generally known or agreed upon or self-evident,98 corresponding to primary premises in demonstrative syllogisms, except that they deal "with objects of human actions, and with what should be chosen or avoided with reference to them."99 In fact, Arabic logicians include such maxims under what they call by the general term "primary premises,"I?? describing them specifically as "generally known primary premises."IoI But, on the other hand, he continues, there are also imperfectly formed and hence untrue notions in 94 Ibid. (p. 15, 11. 18-21): n-i mI1n , ' vn nwv ny: r,n y HN il -N -IDlipn 1It -rWK . 3 NID ... nDV34 DvW UT1- T 1Y N '1 r ^' IN1D' nKin K'N, nym t-Dn n DK NIm nrosm D0,; DNzn. 95 Ibid. (p. 16, 11. 4-6): i: 1nzn vzi -a ,,'ar -vN i:l mSmDn -1 'r;y y'ri 1' nK (J-j) '1"Y3 1'N YIDV n ,P3D 1 1'S nmD pTI HiUm yp3 (>J1). I take it that the terms Jl; : rl"Y and j1.Ji: l'yn, in this passage do not mean the art of speculation or of reasoning but rather the formation of concepts in the mind. In the passage quoted below in n. 113, the expression_,JI 4;L. : pwyn n:DnO refers to the art of rea- soning, i. e., logic. 96 Ibid., p. 43 (p. 13, 1. 5): ,m13 i rtnl ml prtlnw lO. 97 Rhet., II, 20, 1393a, 23-24. 98 Ibid., II, 21, 1394b, 10-15. 99 Ibid., II, 21, 1394a, 24-26. 100 Cf. Algazali, Maqaszd al-Faldsifah, I, p. 52, 1. 4: ,UjWl. o10 Ibid., p. 55, 11. 9 ff.: .lj)lJl; cf. Millot ha-Higgayon, 8: mnDDmDD. [128] 236 DOUBLE FAITH THEORY-WOLFSON our mind, to which he refers as "phantasms and dreams."I02 These he describes as being due sometimes to "the thoughts which happened to cross through the mind during the past day" and sometimes to "the foods, with reference to their having been hot or cold, much or little," and sometimes to "the humor which happens to gain dominance over the mixture; the warm and moist become the dream-images of merriment and pleasure; the cold and dry become the dream-images of grief and mourning."I03 Finally, in the o02 Emunot ve-De'ot, loc. cit., p. 45 (p. 16, 11. 6-7): oi,'nn 1n nDmai (^A.Yl,J) nlDlmnm [i..J1]. These terms evidently reflect Aris- totle's statement that "every image ((pavraao,a) in sleep is a mere dream (Yb'irviLov)" (De Somnits, 1, 458b, 24). 103 Ibid. (p. 16, 11. 9-15 ff.): nwi 9inn Dm',n ,'a'yD n,nrr onp ,D yir, K5i oncpi ... DolDoi D1311 D1nipi Dml Ollron1t 'DsD Dnpil ... vDnnn y Il1zy nln- nnm oDinnm (:ljJl) aro1 ^ iman (XSvOs= ^ O lJ iDDU '"D (t; 1 ,-) nlmnl (;Lr) r nolrT wn,'ni npn pln ','i, mnDi (r^,,). From the fact that in this passage, the s.,: DD, which happens to become predominant in the T\lA: uT, is said to be either hot or moist, cold or dry, it is evident that it refers to one of the four humors, for the four humors correspond to the four primary qualities of the elements (cf. Hippocratis de humoribus liber et Galeni in eum com- mentarius, I, in Galeni opera, ed. Kuhn, XVI, 23-24). The literal Hebrew translation of xvI,os, >^S", juice, humor, is nrn,5. But, inasmuch as in Arabic the common word for humor is >;., literally, mixture, KparLs, /uLiLS, the translator renders cj,) here by 1DD, mixture. Conversely, too, we find that the Hebrew ninl,, literally, juice, is used as a translation of the Arabic l?;-, literally, mixture. For examples see the quotations in Klatzkin, Ozar ha-Munatim ha-Pilosofiyyim, s. v. All this interchange of terms is due to the fact that the terms humor and mixture of humors became interchangeable, owing to the fact that usually in every mixture of humors one particular humor predominates and lends its name to the mixture as a whole. But see another interpretation of the term lDD here in Philipp Bloch, Vom Glauben und Wzssen: Saadiah's Emunoth we-Deoth, Mun- chen, 1879, p. 27, n. 1, which is adopted by Klatzkin, op. cit., sub 1DD. The second and third causes of dreams mentioned here by Saadia are also given by Abraham Ibn Ezra in his commentary on Eccl. 5.2: ln nnM ilmnml D'wNDn nanynn Nlnm ylI n o''ly o'ayo a-lyo Doinn rn"mmr .tin ^in 'D yll MID by nt41 IlnnD In -1 n'n Ni oVwnw nmy:nim. [129] 237 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW case of derivative knowledge, he concludes, it is true when, as in the case of what Aristotle calls scientific knowledge, it follows certain rigid logical rules of demonstration. It may be false, however, when, as in the case of what Aris- totle calls opinion, there is some laxity in those rules of demonstration, and Saadia thereupon enumerates five such rules that are to be observed in demonstrative reassuring.104 Since both immediate and derivative knowledge may be either true or false, faith with reference to both these kinds of knowledge may be either true or false. In Clement, as will be recalled, there is a similar distinction between faith of scientific knowledge, which is true, and faith of opinion, which may be false.?05 Drawing upon the terms used in the definition of the correspondence theory of truth, Saadia defines these two kinds of faith as follows: "True faith means that a thing is known to be as it really is, the many to be many, the few to be few, the white to be white, the black to be black, the existent to be existent and the non- existent to be nonexistent. False faith means that a thing is known to be the opposite of what it really is, the many to be few, the few to be many, the white to be black, the black to be white, the existent to be nonexistent and the nonexistent to be existent.1?6 This, then, is Saadia's restatement of Aristotle's double faith theory as a purely epistemological concept. Let us now see how he treats of the same theory as a religious concept. Besides these three types of knowledge which may be "04 Ibid., p. 46 (p. 18, 11. 16 ff.): ,nnDn,I yrnn rri'nrr ' int 11' IDDn, ]D ml n"i o -i l'3t3., '-Ix. o"s Cf. above ? 2, n. 56. O6 Emunot ve-De'ot, loc. cit., ?4, p. 42 (p. 11, 11. 10-14): rmDnm ,-lnrw nrlnnl j1 l mn ,Ly D l -om yn - : in ,rn iN 'WH:- "y'tvw , N n,'n,'on -inU ,Kn -In D I.n 1 2In y't 7'V NK1 n n nlt .-n? C tr-y3 : 3 N1x3 m H2YP3 xn) 3l N m KD3II ,129 Tinwnl '*nrw imv , Y1 Dy.II DYD. 238 [130] DOUBLE FAITH THEORY-WOLFSON either true or false, Saadia mentions a fourth type of knowledge, which he considers as being unqualifiedly true. He calls this fourth kind of knowledge "true tradition" and by this he means the teachings of Scripture as well of those of the oral Jewish tradition which are supplementary to Scripture.107 Now these teachings of Scripture and of the oral Jewish tradition may be accepted by the believer as true without any demonstration, in the same way as one accepts the truth of indemonstrable primary premises. But they may also be demonstrated by reason and thereby become accepted as true in the same way as one accepts conclusions of syllogistic proofs as true. To Saadia both these kinds of acceptance of the truth of these teachings constitute faith in the religious sense of the term. The former is described by him as the faith of him "who believes by tradition" and the latter as the faith of him "who believes by speculation and understanding."Io8 Thus, as in Clement, we have here a double faith theory in the religious sense of the term. Moreover, again as in the case of Clement, both these kinds of faith are regarded by Saadia as of equal perfection. Against those who might think that the religion of the simple believer is inferior to that of the philosopher, Saadia briefly declares that the religion of those-who are incapable of speculation is "perfect."109 But being more concerned with those who in his own time objected to the use of philosophy in connection with religion, he undertakes to I07 Ibid., p. 44 (p. 14, 11. 2 ff.): u,n D''DoD o'n,nrn Inp i3nai Jzb n3l nl'i ?m iniKa. la^3n '3'1 1 WD n'1K rmn DPn -rD -im aDwn -iwtn (jva23 .:;-1) fnDNKn anru n mm ' vWl; ); cf. the use of the terms nmn ,mannr and nnDK nmna ( r. . .-) in III, 6, pp. 113, 114 (p. 126, 1. 13; p. 127, 1. 4). o08 Ibid., ? 2, p. 39 (p. 6, 1. 7): ,atn; l y l' -n1 p n 1'p n l'in mi,l. Io9 Ibid., ? 6, p. 51 (p. 25, 1. 18): ,?v 'Di 'c-iyy N , 1W 'D I 'I, ',D n'tw inn n,nn yl"VY Y'. [131] 239 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW refute all the popular prejudices against the application of reason to Scripture and, moreover, to show on many grounds that the application of reason to Scripture is desirable.II0 But while philosophic speculation about matters of faith are permissible and while also such specula- tions, if they are sound and founded on true principles, cannot conceivably be in disagreement with the teachings of Scripture,'IT one is not to make his belief in these teach- ings dependent upon the outcome of one's own rational investigation nor is one to relax in one's belief pending the outcome of such personal investigation. "We are not allowed," he says, "to put the books of the prophets aside and to rely upon what may occur to the mind of each one of us by his own reasoning when taking up for considera-tion such questions, for instance, as the beginnings of place and time. For he who employs speculation in matters religious in this manner may by himself either hit the right belief or miss it. Consequently, until he hits the right belief, he will be without belief. And if he happens to hit a right belief and gets hold of it, he will not be sure of himself that he will not part from it at the rise of some doubt in his mind, and thus his belief will be ruined for him."II2 Belief, Saadia would say, is a habit as well as a conviction, and such a habit can be formed by a decision of the will and cultivated by practice. With his conception of the equality of undemonstrated faith and demonstrated faith, Saadia raises the question, which we have already met with in Origen, as to what lo Ibid., p. 48 (p. 20, 1. 18- p. 21, 1. 22). I Ibid., p. 49 (p. 22, 11. 6-10): 1i3 ts, nipmn 1Y": nWvt ' l3,'Trm rp112 w ln bid 13,nn; 1N'13 12 0 y 3-yn'l;l 1m3 yw i:: DhWIn -1in z3n3lnnv m'PD'nni c'K i1 lnn AminaYD 3 'uwy 0'791z?. 112 Ibid. (p. 21, 11. 15-20): by Dn1m Yix a'm,',:nr '-=D ltyiW ly:D 15:3 ' ,aip;l-rn Inrnlimnnn iny-t by inSynn oxy nyn nrlmi nnm I Kx,Y'W no t4D' DN1 ,n Him ;rnrr' H -'Ww nl ,nvyW zWB91 tSXDW iN nrn -tXn Inp IrnyDn innolN lhy -rDD'1 ,1vxsz -Tlny, pwSn mon) D InpnynD nr t m na p'lrm n-r;n. 240 [132] DOUBLE FAITH THEORY-WOLFSON need was there for revelation, when men can attain to the same truth by their own reason. His answer is like that given by Origen. Speculative faith, he says, may indeed be suitable for those persons who by natural ability, training and leisure are able to carry through a logical argument to a successful conclusion. But there are those who, for various reasons, are lacking either the leisure or the ability to reason out for themselves the truths of religion. "God in his wisdom," he says, "knew that problems which are to be solved by the art of speculation can be brought to a conclusion only after the passage of some tract of time. Consequently, if God were to refer us to the art of specula- tion for a knowledge of His Law, we would each have to remain without the Law throughout the time that we were engaged in gaining proficiency in that art and per- fection in the use of it. And perchance many among us would never become proficient in the art of speculation on account of some deficiency in them; or they would never become perfect in the use of that art on account of some aversion to it which might overtake them or of some doubts which might overpower and perplex and bewilder them. From all these troubles God has quickly saved us by sending to us His prophets.""3 Thus, as in Clement, revelation is to Saadia a short-cut to salvation, and the short-cut and the long road both lead to faiths which are of equal perfection. For the perfection of faith, argues Saadia in effect, consists in the certainty 113 Ibid., p. 51 (p. 24, 1. 19- p. 25, 1. 5): ' minDmn yrp'v , DnMlI nnz', a~ , ,Drn Dl nun ^D 'o ,D= ' H, lVyn n5=4an 'a1,Inn a,'plDon pDyn anl ,nr6n tUrni y -R , bnn im lir mlD~y ,n, y in-nn ny-,M= anr 1i IvH'1, bv ,1K .13C 11iDmn inay nzKiDn in o6wn ti 1ioDD mi t1nv .mn j~y ,iln mlpsDmw , mD 1K ,(4iJ., 3.J) a: Y'p'm reDy: n: pDynn9 rmnlt 1ui nrti nnnmn , D': nnn ;1rHm nD :tin lnnn ,irnlvm ::I . The Hebrew yip in Gen. 27.46, Num. 21.5, and Prov. 3.11, is trans- lated by Saadia himself by ,. For pnrt In inD, see Eth. Nic. II, 1, 1103a, 15-17: Acquisition of intellectual virtue requires time. [133] 241 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW and strength of one's conviction in the truth of what is believed, irrespective of the manner by which that truth was arrived at. The ideal believer is described by him as "he who has arrived at the truth and knows it and rejoices in it."II4 Imperfection of belief, similarly, is not to be identified either with a person's lack of rational arguments in support of his faith or with his use of such arguments. Nor is it even to be identified exclusively with a person's belief in what is not true, or with his lack of decision as to what beliefs are true. A person's faith may be called im- perfect also if he lacks firm conviction in what he has chosen to believe, even though he happens to have chosen a belief which is true. He thus distinguishes from the type of the perfect believer quoted above three types of imperfect believers. These are first, "he who has arrived at the truth but he is still doubtful about it, being neither assured of it nor holding fast to it."II5 Second, "he who assures himself of that which is false on fancying that it is true, so that he clings and holds to falsity and abandons that which is right.""6 Third, "he who preoccupies himself with a certain view for some time, but gives it up on account of a certain defect he notices in it. He then transfers himself to another view for some time, but parts from it on account of something in it of which he disapproves. He then trans- fers himself to still another view for some time, but after "4 Ibid., ? 2, p. 38 (p. 3, I. 22- p. 4, 1. 1): y-n' mmt ni n ri y,nw , ' ir7 nDBn ,nim. IIs Ibid. (p. 4, 1. 3): nn4riD r3rm nn pmnoDD tmni n=n t?4 y3w ?D ,: p'rno Ki1 1SeH. II6 Ibid. (p. 4, 11. 5-6): Di1t nmn(i nm p,nLm i xN nrrnnu t)w ,D r on r,'pl t,(;j.) n.1..n ) nD, (.)jJl: ) Nm'I p'rnmD mr n DonD 1W _nm lpWn, irmon urn r,nn KW y nym Iva 13N' 5 (w'5 ,'ll r1't) nDn. The mirr in the printed text is to be read mslw. In his translation of, and commentary on Job, Saadia takes the wi in the verse of Job quoted by him here as being the equivalent of nsw; cf. Bacher's in Version Arabe Du Livre de Job de R. Saadia ben Josef al-Fayyium, Paris, 1899, p. 51; cf. also D. Kaufmann, Gesammelte Schriften, III, p. 439-40. 242 [134] DOUBLE FAITH THEORY-WOLFSON a while he rejects it on account of something which has rendered it faulty in his eye. And thus he vacillates from one view to another throughout his lifetime.""7 ?4. AVERROES The development of the problem of the relation of faith to reason in the Moslem branch of Arabic philosophy was the reverse of that of its Jewish branch. Arabic Jewish philosophy started with Saadia's double faith theory, then developed, in Hallevi, a single faith theory of the authori- tarian type, and ended up with Maimonides' single faith theory of the rationalist type. Arabic Moslem philosophy, on the other hand, started with the Mu'tazilite view of a single faith theory of the rationalist type, then developed, in Algazali, a single faith theory of the authoritarian type, and ended up with Averroes, a contemporary of Maimon- ides, with a double faith theory like that of Saadia and Clement of Alexandria. Unlike Saadia who takes as the subject of his discussion the term i'tiqad, faith, Averroes takes as the subject of his discussion the term tasdzq, which from its original meaning "the consideration of a thing as true" it came to mean also "affirmation" and "belief" and "judgment." We shall try to explain Averroes' use of this term before we undertake to explain his double faith theory. Early in the history of Islam there appeared the question as to what constitutes religious faith (iman), by virtue of which a believer could be properly called a Moslem. Some said that faith is only a confession (iqrar) of the tongue of certain articles of the creed, even it were not II7 Ibid. (p. 4, 11. 7-10): lz nn-i mlyrn 1n nygm iry nK rr,nw n o DDni I3i 113 l3y: lDKDI o li nmnNt nyn im lo= p'nynl ,O1 wityi 1312 1l3y3 lDKD 1"'Y "113Y3 itryi r in nnn nyn n i Doo p'nyn l: nnl ,13a r13y nImi 1D' i: nl"Ennn3 n1nl ,l"py3 lnl '1n TDW. [135] 243 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW accompanied by a sincere conviction of the truth of the creed. Others said, quite on the contrary, that it is a belief (tasdiq) in the heart. Still others said that it is a combina- tion of the two. There were finally others who said thatin addition to the confession of the tongue and the belief of the heart, it is also the performance of good works."8 Now all this was a problem of practical religion, which concerned itself with the question as to what were the duties required of a true Moslem. Historically, it would seem to be a repercussion within Islam of certain discussions among the Christians with whom Moslems had come in contact, which had their origin in such New Testament statements as "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth ... and shalt believe in thine heart. . . thou shalt be saved""9 and "faith without works is dead."120 It had nothing to do with the problem of the relation of faith to reason. The expression "belief of the heart," which may also mean "the conviction of a truth in the heart" had no implication that that conviction must be based upon reason and demonstration. We may gather this from the fact that such exponents of opposite views with reference to the relation of faith and reason as the Mu'tazilite al-Najjar and Al-Ash'ari both declare that faith is a belief (tasdiq) of the heart.121 Now, Averroes happens to believe that faith is not only confession or good works but also a belief of the heart. Accordingly he uses the term tasdiq instead of imdn or i'tiqdd in his formal discussion of the relation of faith to reason. With this preliminary comment, we shall now try to 118 Cf. L. Krehl, Beitrage zur Charakteristik der Lehre von Glauben im Islam, pp. 7 ff.; F. A. Klein, The Religion of Islam, pp. 39 ff. I9 Romans, 10.9. 120 James, 2.20. I2I Shahrastani, p. 62, 1. 20; p. 73, 11. 2-3. 244 [136] DOUBLE FAITH THEORY-WOLFSON recast Averroes' entire discussion of the relation of faith to reason, in his special treatise devoted to this problem,122 in the general pattern of the problem as we have presented it in this paper. We shall discuss first Averroes' conception of faith in its general epistemological meaning and then we shall discuss his conception of the term in its special theological meaning. Epistemologically Averroes starts his discussion of the meaning of the term faith with the statement with which all Arabic works on logic usually begin, which in his version reads: "Instruction is of two kinds, namely, simple appre- hension (tasawwur) and belief (tasdiq), as the masters of the science of the Kalam have explained." He then proceeds to say that the methods of tasdiq are "demonstra- tive, dialectical and rhetorical."I23 Now we are going to show that in this threefold division of the methods of tasdiq Averroes means to say that tasdZq may refer either to belief in immediately known truths or to belief in demon- strated truths. In Arabic philosophic literature prior to Averroes, the term tasdzq is said to be of two kinds, the primary (awwaliyy) and the acquired (muktasib),I24 the former being a judgment which is "not preceded by another judgment upon which it is dependent"125 or which is "with- 122 Kitdl Fasl al-Maqdl wal-TaqrIr md bain al-Shari'ah wal-Hikmah min al-Ittisal, in J. M. Miiller's Philosophie und Theologie von Averroes, Arabic: 1859; German: 1875; French by L. Gauthier, Accord de la Religion et de la Philosophie: Traite d'Ibn Rochd (Averroes), in Recuezl de Memozres et de textes publie en I'honneur du XIVe Congres des Orien- talistes par les professeurs de l'Ecole Supe'rieure des Lettres et des Meder- sas, Alger, 19C5, pp. 269-318; English by M. J. Rehman, The Philosophy and Theology of Averroes, Bardoa, 1921. 23 Fasl, p. 19, 11. 10-12. This passage of Averroes is discussed more fully by the present writer in a paper on the terms taSawwur and tasdiq to be published in The Moslem World. 24 Shahrastani, p. 349, 1. 1. 25 Alfarabi, 'Uyun al-Masd'il, in Alfarabi's philosophische Ab- handlungen by F. Dieterici, p. 56, 1. 16. [137] 245 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW out investigation and research,"'26 the latter being a judg- ment "which one cannot comprehend without having comprehended beforehand some other things"127 or "which is obtained only by investigation."128 As illustrations of the primary kind of judgment, in Alfarabi and Algazali, men- tion is made of certain common notions in geometry or, in general, of primary premises in logical demonstrations,129 and as illustrations of the acquired kind of judgment men- tion is made of several propositions which are arrived at only by demonstration as conclusions from primary pre- mises.130 Since, therefore, tasdiq is said in Arabic philosophy to be either primary or acquired, when Averroes says here that the methods of tasdzq are "demonstrative, dialectical and rhetorical," he undoubtedly means to say that tasdiq may be either primary or acquired. As to how this distinc- tion of primary and acquired is used by Averroes here with regard to tasdsq may be gathered from a further study of what he says subsequently about the rhetorical method of tasdiq as distinguished from the demonstrative and the dialectical method. The rhetorical method of tasdiq is said by Averroes to be a method which endeavors to establish belief by means of mathal and shibh.'I3 These two terms, I take it, represent respectively the Greek y'c,na?, maxim, and 7rapa6ely7/a, example,I32 which, according to Aristotle, are two of the three rhetorical methods of establishing faith (rlo'TeLS), the third being the enthymeme (evObvulJlua).133 Now both 126 Algazali, Maqasid al-Faldsifah I, p. 5, 1. 4. 27 Alfarabi, op. cit., p. 56, 1. 13. I28 Algazali, op. cit., p. 5, 1. 5. 29 Alfarabi, op. cit., p. 56, 11. 17-18; Algazali, op. cit., p. 5, 11. 7-11. 30 Alfarabi, op. cit., p. 56, 1. 14; Algazali, op. cit., p. 5, 11. 12-13. 31I Cf. Fasl, p. 15, 11. 8-13, quoted below in n. 144. I32 Muller's "Bilder und Gleichnisse," Gauthier's "des figures et des symboles" and Rehman's "examples and parables" have all missed the technical use of these two Arabic terms here. 133 Rhetorzca, II, 20, 1393a, 23-24. 246 [138] DOUBLE FAITH THEORY-WOLFSON the maxim and the example, in contradistinction to the enthymeme, are considered by Aristotle as immediate kinds of knowledge. Maxims are described by him as "conclusions or premises of enthymes without the syllo- gisms"134 and as being generally known or agreed upon or self-evident.I35 They are in fact like the immediately known primary premises of demonstrative syllogisms, except that they deal "with objects of human actions, and with what should be chosen or avoided with reference to them.I36 Similarly the example is defined by Aristotle as a "rhetorical induction,"'37 in contradistinction to the enthymeme which is a "rhetorical syllogism," for induction is considered by Aristotle as being the opposite of syllogism and demon- strationI38 and as a primary but indirect sort of know- ledge based upon our senses.139 When therefore Averroes says that the methods of tasdiq in the sense of belief are "demonstrative, dialectical and rhetorical," he means there- by that belief may be either 'acquired,' such as are obtained syllogistically by arguments, or 'primary,' such as are learned not syllogistically but rather directly by 'maxims' and indirectly by 'examples.' Belief or faith, then, in its general epistemological sense of the term, is used by Averroes in its two Aristotelian senses. In the first place, it is the judgment of the truth of undemonstrated knowledge, such as the truth of ethical maxims or generally known primary premises. In the second place, it is the judgment of the truth of conclusions which have been arrived at by demonstration. Like Clement, therefore, Averroes applies the term faith to '34 Ibid., II, 21, 1394a, 27-28. '35 Ibid., II, 21, 1394b, 10-15. I36 Ibid., II, 21, 1394a, 24-26. I37 Ibid., I, 2, 1356b, 4-5. 138 Anal. Pr., II, 23, 68b, 13. '39 Anal. Post., I, 18, 81a, 38-81b, 9. [139] 247 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW scientific knowledge,i. e., to conclusions which follow by necessity from their premises. But he differs from Clement in his description of the nature of this kind of faith. Ac- cording to Clement, as we have seen, faith of any kind, even faith with reference to scientific knowledge, is an act of free will.140 Averroes, in contradistinction to this, explicitly says that "the belief which arises in the soul of the truth of a thing by reason of a proof is something compulsory and not voluntary, that is to say, we have not the power to consider that thing as untrue or as true in the same way as we have the power to rise or not to rise."'W4 Coming now to his conception of faith in its theological sense, we find that Averroes starts with the common assumption of all religious philosophers ever since Philo, in asserting about the Koran what both Jews and Christians asserted about the Hebrew Scripture and what Christians asserted also about the Greek Scripture, namely, "that this our divine Law is true."142 Faith, then, in the religious sense, means the acceptance of the teachings of the Koran as true. Now as to the question whether one is to accept the truth of the teachings of the Koran without investiga- tion or whether one should try to demonstrate them by reason, his answer is like that of Clement and Saadia. Each man is to have a faith according to his capacities. "The natures of men," he says, "differ with reference to their conviction of the truth of a thing. One will be con- vinced of the truth of a thing through demonstration. 4? Cf. above ? 2, text at n. 53 f. 141 Facl, p. 13, 11. 18-20. Horten (Texte zu dem Strezte zwischen Glauben und Wzssen im Islam, p. 16) is not right, I think, in inferring from this statement that "faith," according to Averroes, is a voluntary act and hence essentially different from "reason." What this state- ment means is that, though scientific truth is not voluntary, still the term faith can be applied to it. See discussion on this point in St. Thomas, below ? 5. 142 Ibid., p. 6, 11. 14-15. [140] 248 DOUBLE FAITH THEORY-WOLFSON Another will become convinced of the truth as a result of dialectical arguments, just as the former becomes so by demonstration, and this because he is by his nature in- capable of more than that. Still another will become convinced of its truth as a result of rhetorical arguments, just as the master of demonstration becomes so by demon- strative arguments."I43 The same view is expressed by him elsewhere. "With regard to things," he says, "which on account of their abstruseness cannot be known except by demonstration, God has shown his favor to those of his servants who have no access to demonstration, either because of their natural predispositions or because of their habits or because of their lack of means to instruct them- selves, by making use for their benefit of maxims (amthal) and examples (ashbah) of these things, and with these maxims he has invited them to faith, for with these maxims one can attain faith by the use of arguments which are commonly accessible to all, that is to say, by dialectical and rhetorical arguments.I44 In still another place, after mentioning the three methods of convincing people of the truth of a thing, namely, the demonstrative, the dialectical and the rhetorical methods, he says: "Inasmuch as not all men are by their natural dispositions capable of mastering the art of reasoning by arguments, -not even reasoning by dialectical arguments and still less so reasoning by demonstrative arguments, in addition to the intrinsic difficulty of the task of learning these demonstrative arguments and the length of time it '43 Ibid., p. 6, 11. 17-21. I44 Ibid., p. 15, 11. 8-13. Strictly speaking, "dialectical" arguments are not based upon "maxims" and "examples." But Averroes' coup- ling here of Rhetoric and Dialectic reflects Aristotle's statement that "Rhetoric is a counterpart of Dialectic; for both have to do with matters that are in a manner within the cognizance of all men and not confined to any special science" (Rhet., I, 1, 1354a, 1-3). 249 [141] THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW must take those who are capable of learning them, and inasmuch also as the Law has no other purpose than to instruct all the people, the Law of necessity has to include all the various methods of affirmation or belief and all the various methods of simple apprehension."'45 So far, then, we have in Averroes a double faith theory like that in Clement, in Origen and in Saadia. There is one truth underlying both forms of faith, the truth of the revealed teachings of the Koran. There is only a difference in the method by which different believers arrive at that truth. Some accept it implicitly and hence take the teach- ings of the Koran literally; others are supported in their acceptance of it by demonstration and hence understand some of those teachings as interpreted philosophically. To the former, the truth of the teachings of the Koran is like an indemonstrable primary premise or a maxim or an example; to the latter, it is like the conclusion of a syllogism. But as Averroes goes on in the development of his double faith theory he advances a view which is unique with him. The two conceptions of faith are not only defended and justified as true types of faith for those who by their capacities and opportunities happen to hold them, but they are set apart from each other as the only types of faith for their respective possessors. The simple believer is not only assured that his simple belief is good enough for him, but he is prohibited from trying to profess a belief as it is under- stood by philosophers, and the latter are not only allowed to rationalize about certain religious beliefs, but they are also prohibited from trying to profess such beliefs in the manner in which they are understood by the common people. In the case of such statements, he says, as can be understood either literally or rationally, as, e. g., the statements that God "proceeded to the heaven"I46 or that 45 Fasl, p. 19,11. 13-17. 250 [142] 146 Surah, 2.27. DOUBLE FAITH THEORY-WOLFSON he comes down every night to the earth,I47 "for philosophers to take them according to their external literal meaning it is disbelief, and similarly for those who are not masters of demonstration to interpret them and to take them out of their literal sense it is accounted as disbelief or heresy.I48 Moreover, not only must each particular class of believers keep to its own kind of belief, but it is also not allowed for philosophers to propagate their rational beliefs among the common people, or to expound them in popular books which may be read by the common people,149 and this prohibition applies even to philosophic interpretations which are true, not to mention those which are untrue.'50 He justifies this position of his by the analogy of medicine where, he says, it is commonly considered improper to discuss in popular work medical problems which might lead the common people to disregard the practical prescriptions of physicians for the preservation of health.Is5 Now this is a new element introduced by Averroes into the double faith theory. When one considers the political conditions that existed in Moslem Spain under the Almohad rule during the time of Averroes one cannot help feeling that this element of his view was dictated by political necessity. But his essential view as to the relation between faith and reason, apart from the rigid boundary he has set up between the two camps of believers, is nothing but the old double faith theory, which, as we have shown, has its basis in the Aristotelian epistemological conception of faith.152 47 Cf. M. J. Muller, Philosophie und Theologie von Averroes, German translation, p. 8, n. 1, for the source of this statement in Moslem tradition. 148 Fasl, p. 16, 11. 2-4.
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