Question

Read this excerpt from G. K. Chesterton's "The Permanent Philosophy." Then, explain how St. Thomas Aquinas reconciles faith and reason based on this excerpt. Your answer should be at least 150 words.

{St. Thomas says, quite straightforwardly, that he himself believes this world has a beginning and end; because such seems to be the teaching of the Church; the validity of which mystical message to mankind he defends elsewhere with dozens of quite different arguments. ....But Aquinas says he sees no particular reason, in reason, why this world should not be a world without end; or even without beginning. And he is quite certain that, if it were entirely without end or beginning, there would still be exactly the same logical need of a Creator. Anybody who does not see that, he gently implies, does not really understand what is meant by a Creator. ("The Permanent Philosophy"; p. 9)

Answer 1

Aquinas is making the "unknown" argument. When "...he sees no particular reason, in reason, why this should not be a world without end" (The permanent philosophy 9). With this statement he is outlining that based on human reason, the idea that the world has an end cannot be logically disproven. This is known as a "begging the question" fallacy. As a result he is reconciling faith by showing logic cannot disprove it. Although, he is not proving anything either.