"I believe it is possible for reason to draw inspiration from matters of faith and that it is possible in the sphere of faith itself to apply a critique of pure reason."

These two points were made in a paper entitled "Faith and Reason" delivered by Mr E. P. M. Dronke, M.A., to the Philosophical Society at the annual general meeting on Wednesday, March 23.

"Philosophy," said Mr. Dronke. "has often drawn theological ideas into its orbit. By keeping philosophy open towards theology the fields in which the philosopher can reason may well be fruitfully enlarged."

Reason and Myths

"Indeed ancient philosophy used religious myths not only as a goal for certain modes of reasoning, but also as a continuation of these modes. If a certain myth is reasonable—that is if it conforms to tests of internal coherence, and if it has an acceptable and logically connected point of origin in reason—then the most probable extension of our knowledge about a certain question may be along the lines of that myth.

"Of course, that one can always go further in the sphere of religious knowledge is impossible to prove. But it is an assumption that we must make—not to make it amounts only to a resolution not to investigate any further.

"If such a sphere were opened up to the methods of logic and the theory of knowledge, the ancient and modern traditions of thought might at last be seen in pcrspectvlc and in unity."