by Orestes J. Gonzalez

Created on: September 11, 2008   Last Updated: May 22, 2010

There is no doubt that the examination into the harmony of faith and reason conducted by John Paul II in the encyclical letter "Fides et Ratio" has extended our understanding of and called our attention towards the validity of a universal philosophy, a philosophy which transcends all cultures, particular times, individual thinkers, and the thoughts and lives of all men and women who sincerely seek the truth. (1)

What the encyclical defends is an appeal to the philosophy of being in order to show that it is possible to move from the historical and contingent circumstances which necessarily envelop philosophical production to the point of reaching the fundamental elements of knowledge produced by the "natural philosophy of the human mind," a philosophy transcending those circumstances and particular insights. (2)

No one questions that the historical unfolding of philosophical speculation is intricate and complex. Yet the proliferation of philosophical systems with their claim of universality is no guarantee that they are actually universal and true. Many of them are patently false. And in fact almost any 'combination of color' can be found in the philosophical positions that thinkers have advanced throughout the centuries.

Can one then conclude that philosophers are free from constraints because a point of reference for philosophical speculation is nowhere to be found?

The issues involved here are fundamental ones and cover a tremendous amount of ground. It is indeed possible to argue at the level of the particulars involved in the different philosophical positions. But the general outlines of an answer can and should be given. And this is what "Fides et Ratio" does.

It is on the basis of methodology that the philosophy of being is credited in "Fides et Ratio" with a completeness, a balance, a depth, a clarity, a fidelity to the truth, - in one word, with a token of  infallibility, - to be found in no other philosophical system.

With the caliber of a philosopher and the authority of a teacher John Paul II stresses that:

"The philosophy of being is strong and enduring because it is based upon the very 'act of being' itself ('ipse actus essendi'), which allows a full and comprehensive openness to reality as a whole."

To explain this dynamism and this openness of the philosophy of being John Paul II points out that:

"The basis and source of this openness lie in the fact that this is a philosophy of the 'actus essendi,' it is the philosophy of the proclamation

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