Philosophy and Religion According to Siger of Brabant

The Clash Between Religion and Philosophy in Siger of Brabant’s Works

The human march to knowledge and enlightenment has frequently been marred by clashes with dominant ideas. Philosophical ideas frequently contradict prevalent cultural and religious views. The tension between religion and philosophy was obvious in most of Siger of Brabant’s works. Siger was a well-known advocate of Aristotle’s Metaphysics and Averroes. It was an amusing state for a priest to openly endorse the theories of Averroes, a Muslim, and Aristotle’s works, which heavily challenged Catholic teachings. Siger’s viewpoint was paradoxical because he claimed to be a believer in the Catholic faith while questioning some of its principles. Siger seemed to analyze the truths in religion and the truths of philosophy from different perspectives. His work on Questions on “Aristotle’s Metaphysics” reveal some of his robust views on religion and philosophy that afforded him a place in the 1277 “Condemnation of 219 Propositions”. The understanding of these two texts reveals Siger’s perspectives on religion and its interaction with philosophy. Part of the questions by Siger was “On Fables and Falsehoods in Religion.” In his exploration, Siger tries to determine whether the customary hearing of falsehoods influence or drive an individual to believe in the repeated falsehoods.

The Influence of Repetition on Falsehoods and Beliefs

In determining the influence of repetition to falsehoods, Siger considers Aristotle’s differentiation of Believing and imagining. Aristotle identifies that individuals have the power to imagine things that are “thus or not thus” in their imagination. (Siger of Brabant, 1) However, in belief, people have no power to determine if a thing “is thus or not thus.” It is apparent that the power to believe is not ordained to humanity. Aristotle does, however, observe that humanity demands to listen to what it is accustomed to. Thus Siger considers that after continued repetition of falsehoods man can be forced to believe.

The Lack of Congruence Between Religion and First Principles

Siger considers that human beings are accustomed to beliefs in the human Law that are fabulous and false. In essence, he considers that the thing that people derive from religious laws are considerably false. Siger considers that the fables and falsehood have been repeated to human beings to the extent that it has become a belief. His observance is the lack of congruence between religion and first principles. He considers these religious beliefs to be tenacious in the soul with an absence of truth (Siger of Brabant, 2). According to Siger, the lack of congruence between religion and first principle is because the Lawgiver focuses on truth. Here, Siger accuses religion to be false since its focus on good overlooks truth. There exists a possibility that something false could inspire truth in humans. Goodness is not limited to truths but can encompass falsehoods. The continued belief in religion is because it has resulted in good in humanity.

The Propagation of Religious Falsehoods and Threats

In his argument on the perseverance of religious falsehoods due to its impact on doing ’good,’ Siger reflects on Aristotle’s work on Ethics. Aristotle considers the possibility of some groups of people with a natural inclination to do good while others can only do ’good’ as a response to threats or an escape from punishment. In that aspect, Siger is accusing religion to be propagating its falsehoods through threatening individuals. He continues to extend his belief by disapproving the existence of immortality. He believes that the constant reminders of the human soul entering “another good body” after their death are untrue. He considers that such theories were only meant to scare humans into doing ’good.’ Those humans that were not doing ’good’ were threatened that their souls would face a destitute fate upon their deaths. Siger was making such strong sentiments against religion yet he was a practicing Catholic. The Christians, and more so the Catholics, base their belief on the resurrection. It was quite ironical for Siger to assert that the promise of an afterlife was a mere rue to encourage individuals to perform good acts. To Siger, religion was the source of threats that Aristotle considered being necessary to force humans to act ethically.

The Influence of Authoritarian Figures in Spreading Falsehoods

Siger was accused of asserting that Christian theologians were spreading teachings based on fables (Hayman, Walsh & Williams, 549)). In his article, Siger considers that falsehoods were spread by famous persons. He considers that humanity is susceptible to embracing beliefs that are propagated by individuals in authority even when they are falsehoods. The theologians or religious priests were often famous individuals during Siger’s time. Furthermore, the theologians were also granted immense power in society. Siger by suggesting the influence of authoritarian individuals in spreading falsehoods, he was directly asserting that the spread of religious beliefs was a spread of falsehood. The habitual hearing of falsehood like religion could result in individuals forming beliefs on them. Persons of authority easily spread such falsehoods since they have access to bigger audiences that will eventually repeat their rhetoric. Ultimately, the multiple repetitions could trigger people to consider some falsehoods as truths. The multiplicity is encouraged since the people develop multiple arguments that will defend the falsehoods as truths. In essence, Siger was insinuating that the falsehoods spread by the authority were encouraged by the development of philosophical arguments. The lies the theologians spread were based on fables and supported by philosophical arguments that were not based on the first principles.

The Inhibition of Learning and Philosophical Reasoning by Religion

Siger considers that intellect is integral in discerning falsehoods. This assertion can be seen as Siger was accused of making a claim that Christian teachings were an obstacle to learning (Hayman, Walsh & Williams, 548). Siger did indeed suggest that religion could blind humanity from discerning the truth. He does evidently suggest this since he observes that religion inserts the belief in man when they are still young. The children are usually endowed with the weak intellect that is impossible to discern truths and lies. To many, religion is taught repetitively at a tender age and thus inserting beliefs that are considerably untrue which will eventually influence their thought process. Since religion is a false that is inserted in a child’s belief system, it will inhibit learning since it will be adopted in place of the first principles when they formulate opinions. The insertion of religion in childhood is a custom inhibits people to adjudicate the truth. Siger was clearly observing that religion did inhibit philosophical reasoning. The tenets of religion were clearly being considered to be limiting the human thought process.

The Superiority of First Principles over Religious Beliefs

Siger further suggested that the continual use of falsehood could lead to people embracing beliefs that were contradictory to the first principles. Siger was simply suggesting that the first principles and not religion were the source of truths in the universe. His assertion of the correctness of the first principles was in a way showing the inferiority of religion. By considering that all truths were to be based on the first principle, Siger was illustrating that philosophy was above religion. His view of religion was clearly negative. It was indeed unsurprising for him to be accused of claiming that Christian Law was a spread of fables and falsehoods (Hayman, Walsh & Williams, 548). In considering that philosophy was the ultimate truth, religion was thus being demarcated as a source of falsehoods. Siger further inclined the inferiority of religion by suggesting that its main intent of doing ’good’ at times coincided with some truths. He also considered that falsehoods from religion were used to achieve ’good.’ He does consider that the main reason religion was being accepted was that it was habitual. Since habit was a force of nature, religion prevailed in influencing belief since it appeared natural. The first principles were a natural possession of man, and since religion appeared natural, it could easily assert beliefs that were conflicting with the first principles.

Conclusion

Siger was evidently opposed to religion and considered it to be mere fables and falsehoods. He considered that religious laws were mainly meant to influence good in society, even when they had false assertions. The accusations that were leveled against him for his attack on Christianity were indeed true. Siger considered philosophical reasoning to be the source of all truths. He considered that Christianity at times used philosophical approaches to encourage its theories. However, the Christian approach to philosophical reasoning was not based on the first principles and was, therefore, inaccurate and even opposed to the first principles. He claims that religion only progressed because its customary repetition created an illusion of it being natural on people. Since nature is the source of the first principles, the masquerading of religion as part of nature made its falsehoods prevail. Ultimately, Siger held philosophical reason as the main source of truth that was superior to the misleading religion.

Works Cited

Hyman, Arthur, James J. Walsh, and Thomas Williams, eds. Philosophy in the middle ages: The Christian, Islamic, and Jewish traditions. Hackett Publishing, 2010.

Siger of Brabant. Questions on Aristotle’s Metaphysics: On Fables and Falsehoods in Religion.