Q&A: Faith and Empiricism
Faith and Empiricism
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I would like to know how one can believe in this age of extreme empiricism.
After all, in order to believe we use reason. But who says that this reason is actually valid out there in reality??
For example, until not long ago we entertained the assumption that any material could be divided into two pieces, and then again and again all the way down to zero, until science proved us wrong.
We also entertained the assumption that the gravitational force acting on bodies is proportional to their mass.
And if we go back to the theological argument:
- For example, in the context of the cosmological argument we assume that there cannot be an infinite chain of causes, even though maybe there can be and we simply cannot grasp it.
2. And who says it is correct to make claims about the unknown, things that cannot be tested empirically.
Answer
These are skeptical questions that attack science just as much as they attack faith. Therefore, if you are a skeptic, then I have nothing to answer you—but then you must give up everything you know. And if you are not a skeptic, then why be skeptical דווקא in relation to faith?
I usually do not address questions like: who says such-and-such is true? Maybe not? The question is what you think, not who says that what you think is correct. The reason is simple: after all, even the answer you find to such questions will be exposed to the same doubts (maybe that answer too is just what you think and not the truth?). So what is the point of beginning a discussion that inherently cannot receive an answer? By the way, even in Jewish law, to raise a doubt you need a reason. Without a reason, there is no doubt. See the well-known words of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook in Ein Ayah, Shabbat 30.
One more comment. The fact that we are in some particular age should not change anything. The question is what you believe, not what the people of your era believe. Even if you live in an empiricist age, that does not force you to be one.
Agreed, thank you very much!