Discovery of Truth: A Critical Reflection on “Philosophy as the Handmaiden of Theology.

Marc M. Cataluña

Philosophy is derived from the Greek words φιλο and σοφία meaning “love of wisdom.”

Wisdom here means the knowledge of ultimate causes, explanations and principles. It includes

not just facts but skills and values for life. It creates a bigger picture of the world or “a world

view”. It deals with ultimate reality and questions of life. It answers questions like: What is the

meaning or goal of life? Why is there good and evil in the world? Are we truly free? Why is

there suffering in the world? How do we know things? Why do we die? Is there life after death?

These questions may be answered by a reasonable mind but philosophy digs deeper within the

limits of human reason.

The maxim that philosophy should serve as the handmaiden of theology was frequently

proclaimed by scholastic theologians in the Middle Ages. They expressed it in these terms:

Philosophia theologiae ancilla. The origin of the interpretation of the relationship between

philosophy and theology in terms of ‘servant’ or ‘mistress’ should first be put to mind. The

analysis, therefore, will be confined to the way in which this idea was represented and

transmitted in the writings of the four leading teachers of this school, namely Philo the Jew and

the Christians Clement, Origen and Didymus the Blind.1 Philosophy and theology, then, are then

placed in relation to each other, theology is given primary role over philosophy. This simply

means that the common knowledge of that time are more on Greek philosophy, especially the

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Platonic concept of the human soul and the ethical system of the Stoics. With that, philosophy

served as a useful instrument in the interpretation of the scriptures.

I sometimes think of philosophy as the study of “higher things” and theology as the study

of the “highest things” which makes it inferior to philosophy.2 This may not be a kind

misconception but probably an exercise of the limitations of knowledge. I am currently studying

philosophy and I find it difficult to engage with philosophical problems like Can we really be

certain of something? Or Is evil in the world caused by God? In any case, these questions bug

me when I sleep at night. If I lived during the time of the philosophers, I would ask them “Why

must we know these things? Is it really necessary? Why not just let things be just the way they

are?

In philosophy there are many schools of thought

Relativists would argue that truth is relative. For them, truth and falsity, right and wrong,

standards of reasoning and procedures of justification are products of differing conventions and

framework of assessment and that the authority is confined to the context giving rise to them.3

They hold that truth depends on the person.

Skeptics claim that nothing is certain. They hold that the possibility of certainty in

knowledge is questionable. It is not enough for one to believe because of belief but there must be

a reason for that belief.

Pragmatist

2
3
Baghramian, Maria and Carter, J. Adam, ed. Edward N. Zalta, “Relativism”, in The Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy (Summer 2017 Edition) accessed February 14, 2018,
(https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/relativism/)
 Idealist

Theology is derived from the Greek words θεο and λογία meaning “the study/word4

of God.”

The idea of revelation was not clear during the first centuries of Christianity.

4 Λογία is derived from the Λογοσ which means “word”.