Summary: In this article the author starts with an important consideration in the understanding of the doctrinal impact of Fides et Ratio, which is above all a call from John Paul II to reflect seriously on the conflict between reason and faith.  With this foundation the article interprets the encyclical in light of reactions critical of the culture. With full respect for the philisophical bent given by the document this article sheds lights on how the polarity faith-reason, can be reconsidered from other points of view. Substantially siting other authors and other lines of thought the article maintains that it is not only the Aristotelian-Thomistic vision that can contribute to the untying of this delicate cultural knot. There are other twists and turns of postmodernity that cannot be forgotten that in the encyclical are only lightly touched upon, but which still could become the object of study if one wished to comence a dialogue with contemporary culture and bring to light the philosophical and theological  demands which spring from different cultural horizons and a different philosophical and theological perspective. The author shares the inevitabilty of certain ontological questions and the quest for truth, the search for meaning, in a word the necessity of rediscovering the theoretical depth of human reason. With these starting points the discourse expands and becomes more involved, provided that this involvement doesn't come about in the name of a baffling nihilism which feeds on the totally irrational.