Religious Epistemology

Dougherty, Trent; Tweedt, Chris

doi:10.1111/phc3.12185

Cited by 72 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…This position then becomes akin to upholding not simply a moderate internalism as suggested above, but some form of epistemic evidentialism: the position that, "for any theistic belief someone justifiedly holds, she holds that belief on the basis of adequately supporting evidence she has." 22 Moreover, as Chisholm puts it, "the internalist assumes that, merely by reflecting upon his own conscious state, he can formulate a set of epistemic principles that will enable him to find out, with respect to any possible belief he has, whether he is justified in having that belief". 23 Baldwin's thesis appears strikingly similar: a subject, upon active conscious reflection at the second-order level, can formulate reasons to accept the beliefs acquired at the first-order level, and it is only through this process that such beliefs can be sufficiently warranted.…”

Section: A Critique Of Baldwin's Design Thesismentioning

confidence: 99%

An Islamic Account of Reformed Epistemology

Turner¹

2021

Philosophy East and West

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Reformed Epistemology (RE) is roughly "the thesis that religious belief can be rational without arguments." 1 To a large extent RE is centered upon a rejection of the evidentialist objection to theism.Let the evidentialist objection be the thesis that one can only hold proposition p, namely that God exists, justifiably if and only if one supplies evidence E in support of p. Assuming one does not have E, it follows that one would be unjustified in upholding p. Advocates of RE, against to this objection, hold that belief in God can be justified without recourse to propositional evidence.Alvin Plantinga, RE's prime proponent, has argued on the basis of what he coins the Aquinas-Calvin (or A/C) model that theistic belief can be properly basic with respect to warrant.Plantinga's account of RE is a form of epistemic externalism. Externalism is regarded as simply the denial of internalism, which is roughly the thesis that "the justifying reason for a basic belief, or indeed for any belief, must somehow be cognitively available to the believer himself". 2 Externalists generally hold that although "there must in a sense be a reason why a basic belief is likely to be true, the person for whom such a belief is basic need not have any cognitive grasp of this reason." 3 In other words, a belief can result from "factors external to the consciousness of the believer: factors involving how that belief is caused, or how well it tracks the facts, or how reliably it is formed" and still be warranted. 4 Plantinga uses the term warrant to denote "that quantity, enough of which is what distinguishes knowledge from mere true belief". 5 He sets out to construct an account of warrant which is coined 'proper functionalism'. 6 He argues that a particular belief can have warrant if and only if it arises in the following way: 71. The belief is produced within a subject from cognitive faculties that are functioni ng properly, according to how they have been designed to operate. 8 2. Those cognitive faculties are functioning in an epistemic environment for which t hey were designed to function properly.3. The design plan of those cognitive faculties is such that they are aimed toward the acquisition of true belief. 4. The design plan of those cognitive faculties aims successfully at acquiring true beliefs. The design plan is a "good one" to the extent that there is a high probability that beliefs produced by such cognitive faculties will be true.

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Section: A Critique Of Baldwin's Design Thesismentioning

confidence: 99%

An Islamic Account of Reformed Epistemology

Turner¹

2021

Philosophy East and West

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“…28.See Dougherty & Tweedt (2015) for a more detailed description of the relationship between reformed epistemology and evidentialism.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reforming reformed epistemology: a new take on thesensus divinitatis

McAllister

Dougherty

2018

Rel. Stud.

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Alvin Plantinga theorizes the existence of a sensus divinitatis – a special cognitive faulty or mechanism dedicated to the production and non-inferential justification of theistic belief. Following Chris Tucker, we offer an evidentialist-friendly model of the sensus divinitatis whereon it produces theistic seemings that non-inferentially justify theistic belief. We suggest that the sensus divinitatis produces these seemings by tacitly grasping support relations between the content of ordinary experiences (in conjunction with our background evidence) and propositions about God. Our model offers advantages such as eliminating the need for a sui generis religious faculty, harmonizing the sensus divinitatis with prominent theories in the cognitive science of religion, and providing a superior account of natural revelation.

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“…35 Note here that "evidence" does not mean "argument" as it often does when used by Plantinga. For more on this see Dougherty and Tweedt (2015).…”

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confidence: 99%

Natural Theology, Evidence, and Epistemic Humility

Dougherty

Rickabaugh

2017

EJPR

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One not infrequently hears rumors that the robust practice of natural theology reeks of epistemic pride. Paul Moser’s is a paradigm of such contempt. In this paper we defend the robust practice of natural theology from the charge of epistemic pride. In taking an essentially Thomistic approach, we argue that the evidence of natural theology should be understood as a species of God’s general self-revelation. Thus, an honest assessment of that evidence need not be prideful, but can be an act of epistemic humility, receiving what God has offered, answering God’s call. Lastly, we provide criticisms of Moser’s alternative approach, advancing a variety of philosophical and theological problems against his conception of personifying evidence.

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Religious Epistemology

Abstract: Religious epistemology is the study of how subjects' religious beliefs can have,

Cited by 72 publications

References 45 publications

An Islamic Account of Reformed Epistemology

An Islamic Account of Reformed Epistemology

Reforming reformed epistemology: a new take on thesensus divinitatis

Natural Theology, Evidence, and Epistemic Humility

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