Avant-propos - Studia Moralia

StMor 40 (2002) 237-258
MARTIN MCKEEVER, C.SS.R.
CAN ANYTHING GOOD COME OUT
OF POSTMODERNISM?: A READING OF ZYGMUNT
BAUMAN’S POSTMODERN ETHICS
IN THE LIGHT OF FIDES ET RATIO
Fides et ratio (September, 1998) has recently emphasized the
importance of studying philosophy for a more adequate articulation
and communication of the christian faith in contemporary
culture 1 . The encyclical conceives of the proper relationship
between faith and reason, and hence between theology and philosophy,
as a kind of virtuous circle in which each stimulates, enhances
and perfects the other. Faith serves reason in these ways
by proclaiming with conviction the truth of Revelation as the ultimate
and universal truth about human life; reason serves faith
by critically posing the ultimate questions about human life and
by refining the articulation and systematic expression of the answers
to these questions. While presenting this conception of the
relationship between faith and reason as the ideal, Fides et ratio
clearly laments the fact that this relationship rarely exists in
practice in modern and postmodern culture.
The concern of this piece is not with the broader question of
the relationship between faith and reason, but is rather limited
to the implications of this question for morality, understood
here as the practical and theoretical pursuit of what is good. A
superficial reading of the encyclical might lead one to conclude
that it is not much concerned with morality, being focussed primarily
on Revelation, epistemology and cultural change. Read
with due attention, however, it becomes clear that what the en-
1 This article was first published in Portugese in a recent number of
Fragmentos de Cultura dedicated in part to the theme of faith and ethics, see:
M. MCKEEVER, Alguma Coisa Boa Pode Sair do Pósmodernismo?: una leitura
de ética postmoderna de Zygmunt Bauman à luz de Fides et ratio in Fragmentos
de Cultura 11/4 (2001) 501-520.