Philosophy is an integral part of the life of faith

Saint John Paul II's encyclical Fides et Ratio deals with a theme that is very important for the Church and, at first glance, not related to the devotion to Mary. The title of that encyclical may put off some, those who might think that philosophy is separated from Faith and reserved for intellectuals, while a relationship with Mary is a matter of the heart and not of reason. But is it really so?

John Paul II, who taught philosophy for many years, concludes his encyclical with the following words:

Between the vocation of the Blessed Virgin and the vocation of true philosophy there is a deep harmony. Just as the Virgin was called to offer herself entirely as human being and as woman that God's Word might take flesh and come among us, so too philosophy is called to offer its rational and critical resources that theology, as the understanding of faith, may be fruitful and creative. And just as in giving her assent to Gabriel's word, Mary lost nothing of her true humanity and freedom, so too when philosophy heeds the summons of the Gospel's truth its autonomy is in no way impaired. Indeed, it is then that philosophy sees all its enquiries rise to their highest expression. This was a truth which the holy monks of Christian antiquity understood well when they called Mary “the table at which faith sits in thought.” In her they saw a lucid image of true philosophy and they were convinced of the need to philosophari in Maria.

May Mary, Seat of Wisdom, be a sure haven for all who devote their lives to the search for wisdom. May their journey into wisdom, sure and final goal of all true knowing, be freed of every hindrance by the intercession of the one who, in giving birth to the Truth and treasuring it in her heart, has shared it forever with all the world. 

I was attracted to philosophy from a young age, since I started studying it in high school. And because I have made of it my profession, these words of Saint John Paul II (written in 1998) especially resonate with me. Indeed they tell us that philosophy is an integral part of the life of faith that is guided by Mary.

The early philosophers–the Greeks, the pagans, the Fathers of the Church, and the great doctors of the Church, including of course Saint Thomas Aquinas—knew that intelligence is a mother because it gives birth to the truth that it receives from reality: it conceives the truth, gestates it, and transmits it. This constitutes its fruitfulness. John Paul II's encyclical is a beacon of wisdom of the long uninterrupted tradition of the Church. True, all philosophy is not wisdom, nor is it love of Wisdom. Discerning the wheat from the chaff is also the work of the intelligence aided by reason. Nothing will happen unless we gestate this interior life, with Mary’s guidance.

Michel Boyancé, professor of philosophy, former dean and director of the IPC (College of Comparative Philosophy of Paris).