Reason and Emotion: Modern and Classical Views on Religious Knowing
Horizons 1989 DOI: 10.1017/s0360966900040512 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 2 |
| Key points | Argues that the modern dualism between reason and emotion has obscured the interdependence of mind and heart, and that recovering an authentic emotional life is essential for human integrity and authentic religious knowledge. Proposes, through John Macmurray's personalist thought and Plato's myth of the erotic soul, a holistic philosophy of consciousness based on "emotional rationality" as the condition for authentic love and the incarnate medium of divine revelation. |
Abstract
Abstract The interdependence of mind and heart forms the basic dynamism in human consciousness. In modernity, however, this vital duality has often been obscured by the infamous dualism between reason and emotion, whereby reason is reduced to an abstract rationalism and emotion is identified with irrational passions—a view that has ancient roots. Given this confused state of affairs, the recovery of an authentic emotional life is not only essential for the preservation of human integrity but also for the possibility of authentic religious knowledge. This essay considers the work of John Macmurray, a rather neglected contemporary philosopher whose reflections on this matter remain worthy of study. Relating his personalist thought to Plato's preeminent myth of the erotic soul will serve to construct on solid footing a philosophy of consciousness that pays due respect to the Pascalian “reasons of the heart.” A wholistic understanding of human personality emerges, one based on an “emotional rationality” that is the condition for authentic human love and the incarnate medium for divine revelation.