“What can I know? What should I do? For what may I hope? What is man?”
In these four burning questions, Immanuel Kant expressed something of the human desire for wisdom: a desire that that springs from wonder, and that blossoms as we begin to recognize the power of human reason.
At the University of Dallas, our core courses on ethics, the human person, and being shape a conversation animated by the conviction that as rational, we humans are capable of truth, goodness, and beauty. This conversation takes its bearing from the fact that things are intelligible, that they fulfill us, and that their existence points beyond themselves to God.
Human reason, we believe, never stands alone in its pursuit of wisdom. At every turn it is supported and enriched by imagination, faith, tradition, and love.
Reason and Imagination
Among the Greeks, philosophy began by turning from story-telling (mythos) to reason (logos), supporting the truth of its claims through experience and argument. We repeat this original differentiation of philosophy from literature, but we regard reason’s quest to understand the natures of things as continually enriched by the imagination and its works.
Faith and Reason
Medieval philosophy strove to harmonize the Greek tradition with the startling Christian claim that the origin of rationality, the first cause of all things, became incarnate. Unlike theology, philosophy reconciles the two from the standpoint of reason, and hence its investigations remain open to all, believers and non-believers alike. We endeavor to recover and renew the Christian intellectual tradition and its harmony of faith and reason; its achievements take on new life through our investigations.
Reason and Tradition
Phenomenology memorably expresses philosophy’s aim “to return to the things themselves,” that is, to lay aside prejudice in order to get at the truth of the matter. We pursue topical questions with classic philosophical texts in hand, returning to the things themselves through a thoughtful appropriation of the insights of great philosophers. As Thomas Aquinas writes:
“The study of philosophy is not about getting to know the opinions that people have defended, but rather the truth of the things themselves.”
The treatises of Plato and Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas, as well as philosophers such as Nietzsche and Heidegger, remain common reference points for our present philosophizing.
Reason and Love
With Augustine, we affirm that “my love is my weight: wherever I go, my love is what brings me there.” This is true of the life of reason as much as of human life as a whole. Love of the good sets reason free, inspires it to dwell on the things that matter most, and gives it the strength to see them with clarity.