Is the pragmatic theory of truth compatible with catholicism?

[Eark]

I believe that nothing is knowable. (Not even cogito, ergo sum, because it relies on unverifiable laws of thought.) I think that, because of this, we have to take on faith our is’s (that our perceptive experience reflects reality, that induction works, etc) and our ought’s (that there are things that ought to be, that God exists, etc). From there I get to Catholicism much the same way as anyone else might. My question is, is this licit?

 

[IWantGod]

I believe that nothing is knowable.

I don’t think this is compatible because even a blind act of faith prepossesses a genuine knowledge of something.

Not even cogito, ergo sum , because it relies on unverifiable laws of thought.

We would not have any comprehension of thought at all if we were not thinking. The very act is evidence of itself. Therefore we at the very least know that we are thinking, regardless of whether we can verify the laws of it or not. You cannot deny the argument without submitting to a contradiction.

we have to take on faith our is ’s (that our perceptive experience reflects reality, that induction works, etc) and our ought ’s (that there are things that ought to be, that God exists, etc). From there I get to Catholicism much the same way as anyone else might. My question is, is this licit?

I think a person can approach the reality of God with nothing but blind faith. Many have done so before out of necessity or pragmatic need. When i became Catholic it was because the alternative was intolerable to me, but that was the case because i fully understood and had real knowledge of the alternative as something that stood against my dignity as a living person, and so i dared to have faith. This is to say i looked for an answer and that was the only one that made any sense of my existence.

 

[Dovekin]

I am not sure how you get from “i cannot know my neighbor” to “I love my neighbor.”

But if you can, great! If you do “love your neighbor” you probably will get to know something about them eventually.

 

[CTBcin]

Pragmatism is reconcilable with Catholicism to a degree. I think that John Paul II said something about it, but I can’t remember the document.

That being said, pragmatism should be balanced with a healthy dose of Aristotelian realism. Pragmatists sometimes have the tendency to devolve into total relativism, which isn’t compatible with Catholicism.