Beyond Feelings

54 PART ONE The Context
that their original story was true and then told ABC and British television
that it was false.
How likely is it that any outside observer knows the real story about
the Tasaday, in all its complexity? Not very. That is why, in this and similarly
difficult cases, responsible people do not claim to know what happened.
Instead, they speak of what it is most plausible to believe
happened, in light of the evidence. That is how anthropologist Thomas
Headland, who exhaustively researched the Tasaday case, speaks of it.
He suggests that there was probably no hoax but that there were gross
exaggerations and false media reports, as well as some self-fulfilling
expectations by anthropologists. It is likely, he believes, that the Tasaday
were once members of the neighboring farming tribes who fled several
hundred years ago (perhaps to avoid slave traders) and who hid in the
forest for so many generations that they not only regressed to a Stone Age
culture but lost all memory of their more advanced state. 19
Is Faith a Form of Knowledge?
Some readers, particularly religious conservatives, may wonder whether
what has been said thus far about knowledge represents a denunciation of
faith. Their concern is understandable, given the number of intellectuals in
this and previous centuries who have dismissed religion as mere superstition.
But no such denunciation is intended here. The relationship between
knowledge and religious faith is both complex and subtle. The term religious
faith by definition suggests belief in something that cannot be proved. This is
not to say that what is believed is not true, but only that its truth cannot be
demonstrated conclusively. Jews (and many others) believe that God gave
Moses the Ten Commandments, Muslims believe that Muhammad is Allah’s
prophet, and Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Science is
simply not applicable to these beliefs. Philosophy can offer complementary
arguments for or against them but cannot prove or disprove them.
Mortimer Adler, a distinguished philosopher, offers a very useful
insight into the nature of faith:
What is usually called a “leap of faith” is needed to carry anyone across
the chasm [between philosophy and religion]. But the leap of faith is
usually misunderstood as being a progress from having insufficient reasons
for affirming God’s existence to a state of greater certitude in that
affirmation. That is not the case. The leap of faith consists in going from
the conclusion of a merely philosophical theology to a religious belief in
a God that has revealed himself as a loving, just and merciful Creator of
the cosmos, a God to be loved, worshiped and prayed to. 20
A related concern of religious conservatives may be whether they are
compromising their faith by embracing the philosophical position expressed