DangerousTalk

I was talking to a Christian over the weekend and he asserted that there are three kinds of knowledge, empirical, rational, and faithful. I think this is a brilliant move to assert that faith is a kind of knowledge. What is the argument for that? Where is the evidence? Oh wait, if there is an argument to be made in favor of such a thing as faith knowledge, that argument would be rational knowledge. If there is evidence, then it would be empirical knowledge. So what kind of knowledge is Faith knowledge?

As it turns out, faith knowledge amounts to naked assertion. If someone claims to know something on faith, there is no way to contest such knowledge. It can’t be argued rationally and it can’t be disproved empirically.

Faith knowledge is the ultimate conversation stopper. Anyone can claim to know anything on faith knowledge and there is no disputing it. It is the ultimate proof that God exists. One knows it on faith. Of course, we can also know that unicorns exist on faith knowledge too.

This ridiculous idea of faith knowledge is the last refuge for the intellectually bankrupt. The fact is that any knowledge must be independently verified and testable. As much as I like the idea of rational knowledge, it doesn’t really exist either. There is only one kind of knowledge and that is knowledge which can be tested and independently verified.

The ancient Greeks defined knowledge as Justified True Belief. We must be justified in thinking something is true, it must be true objectively through independent verification, and we must believe it to be true. Believing something to be true alone does not make it true nor does it make it knowledge.

Filed under: anti-intellectualism, conversation, faith