The Faith - Prerequisite of the Knowledge?

This article explores the thesis that our knowledge about reality depends on elementary acts of faith. The argument proceeds in three steps: In a first step David Hume's concept of belief is interpreted in terms of a basic reliance on evolving regularities which cannot be accounted for by acts of reason. Following central insights of Michael Polanyi's epistemology this pre-reflective reliance is reconstructed as a form of tacit knowledge in a second step of the argument. It will be shown that processes of tacit knowing are constitutive for the development of public accessible knowledge. In the third part, the central question about the real causes of our basic reliance is raised. This question is answered with reference to the function that a theory of revelation has for our understanding of faith. This touches the realistic dimensions of the developed Polanyian perspective. © Walter de Gruyter 2010.