The Relationship Between Belief and Thought

In The Reasonableness of Faith, Wilken quotes St. Augustine’s argument that belief is a necessary precursor to thought. This is an idea that I find has both true and false elements. Typically, I think I would be more inclined to attempt to form an argument for why this may be false. However, my other academic endeavors have presented me with information supporting Augustine’s statement. I am currently reading Dracula by Bram Stoker for the first time, and this book has significantly altered the thoughts I have in regards to this topic. Perhaps the largest theme in Dracula is the search for knowledge, and the question of what is truth. What relates to Wilken’s and St. Augustine’s statement is that the characters in the novel consistently refuse to accept any conclusions that the evidence presented to them suggest because they do not believe in the conclusion they are faced with. Only once until they have accepted that such a thing as the reality of vampires are they able to grasp that someone they love has turned into one. This is a central element of the plot, in fact, the characters’ unwillingness to believe is so extreme that even after they have witnessed someone they have loved turn into a vampire, they fail to recognize the very obvious, similar signs of another beloved character suffering the same fate, because they do not want to believe such a thing could be possible. 

With additional consideration, St. Augustine, I have concluded, was correct in naming this principle. As Wilken points out, and as I have seen repeatedly taking place in my own limited life experience, human beings are trapped in their realms of comfort and are in many cases, dictated by what is familiar and believable to them. While Wilken uses this basis to argue the reason behind faith, I believe this same principle can have quite frightening repercussions when misguided. When a person has false, or misguided beliefs, the knowledge they collect will mirror those beliefs. This has taken place seemingly constantly throughout history. Slavery, the Holocaust, Christian persecution, and so many more terrible things, have all had “strong” intellectual reasoning backing them based on prejudices. This ultimately leaves the question of whether the belief before thought system that is practically ingrained into us, is a good, bad, or simply neutral. Wilken writes as if it is a good, because were it not his whole argument would be jeopardized. However I am not so sure that I agree. Currently I am straddling the realm of neutrality but as that is always a precarious position to maintain, I am sure that will change. 

December 2024