The Ends of Philosophy of Religion

Knepper, Timothy D.

doi:10.1057/9781137324412

Cited by 30 publications

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“…It might be noted that even though there are, increasingly, antithe-odicist contributions available in the literature, such as Betenson (2016) as well as and Gleeson's (2018) essays in Trakakis's (ed., 2018) in many ways valuable collection, pragmatist antitheodicies are still very rarely recognized-either by pragmatism scholars or antitheodicist philosophers and theologians. (See, however, also Wright 2006;Knepper 2013.) I am not saying that evil actions and events (or people) can always be understood; nor am I saying, however, that evil necessarily escapes understanding.…”

Section: Notes Prefacementioning

confidence: 99%

Pragmatic Realism, Religious Truth, and Antitheodicy: On Viewing the World by Acknowledging the Other

Pihlström

2020

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and Ulf Zackariasson, as well as a number of students of theology and philosophy who have attended my classes on pragmatism, realism, and the problem of evil and suffering, or my graduate and undergraduate seminars, at the Faculty of Theology, University of Helsinki, in 2016-2019. (If I accidentally forgot to mention someone, which is perfectly possible, I sincerely apologize!) Helsinki, December 2019 Sami Pihlström xvi Pragmatic Realism, Religious Truth, and Antitheodicy We may, I suggest, identify two key 'promises' of pragmatism in the philosophy of religion. These are based on two different philosophical interests in the study of religion, which can be labeled the 'epistemic interest' and the 'existential interest'. The topics of realism, truth, and objectivity-to be explored more comprehensively in the chapters that follow-are fundamental with regard to both. Philosophy of religion could even be considered a test case for pragmatist views on these issues, because religion is often taken to be too personal and 'subjective' to be taken seriously by scientifically minded thinkers pursuing truth and objectivity. Pragmatists themselves are not innocent to this: as we recall, in The Varieties of Religious Experience, James (1958 [1902]) proposed to study the subjective, experiential phenomena that people go through individually, thus arguably neglecting the more social dimensions of religious experience that Dewey emphasized in A Common Faith (Dewey 1991 [1934]). First, it is extremely important, for a thinking person in a modern (or 'postpostmodern') 1 society largely based on scientific research and its various applications, to examine the perennial epistemic problem of the rationality (or irrationality) of religious belief. This problem arises from the-real or apparent-conflicts between science and religion, or reason and faith. It is obvious that this problem, or set of problems, crucially involves the notions of objectivity and truth: religious faith is often regarded as subjective, whereas scientific research and theory construction pursuing truth are objective. Therefore, typically, scientific atheists criticize religion for its lack of solid grounding, while defenders of religion may try to counter this critique by suggesting either that religious beliefs do have objective credentials, after all (e.g., traditionally and rather notoriously, in terms of the 'proofs' of God's existence, which would allegedly be objective enough for any rational inquirer to endorse), or that science is also 'subjective' in some specific sense, or at least more subjective than standard scientific realists would admit (e.g., as argued in various defenses of relativism or social constructivism). The notions of objectivity and rationality are of course distinct, but they are closely related in this area of inquiry in particular. It is precisely because of its pursuit of objectivity that the scientific method is generally regarded as 'rational' , whereas religious ways of thinking might seem to be irrational because of their lack o...

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Section: Notes Prefacementioning

confidence: 99%

Pragmatic Realism, Religious Truth, and Antitheodicy: On Viewing the World by Acknowledging the Other

Pihlström

2020

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“…A string of twentieth-century scholars have argued for the specifically conceptual value of drawing on multiple cultures (e.g. Masson-Oursel (1926/2000), Smart (1979), Hall & Ames (1987), Sivin (2005), Wildman (2010), Knepper (2013), Schilbrack (2014), Chakrabarti (2016), Frazier (2017) ). Recently, rather than competing, one can actually take the major contemporary methodologies, such as those contested so hotly by Siderits and Levine in the recent comparative/fusion philosophy debate (see Siderits (2015) and Levine (2016) ), as aspects of a single epistemological framework.…”

Section: Contemporary Approaches: Global Comparative Fusion and ‘Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is conceptual coherence with a given set of criteria that matters, rather than universal finalizable certainties. A concise and responsible account of an idea, then, requires what Burley (2018) and Knepper (2013) have called ‘thick description’, specifically at the philosophical level: one must clarify the context as fully as possible. This thickly described version of philosophical ideas, theories or problems can be seen as a the triangulation of ‘cultural manifolds’ (Sivin (2005), (2011) ) into a particular pattern of relations (e.g.…”

Section: Philosophical Truths On a Global Scalementioning

confidence: 99%

‘The view from above’: a theory of comparative philosophy

Frazier

2019

Rel. Stud.

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What if doing philosophy across cultures is always implicitly a matter of metaphilosophy – of articulating more clearly the nature of philosophy itself? What if it forces us to ‘stand back’ hermeneutically and map out a ‘view from above’ of the underlying fabric of ideas – in their constitutive concepts, their relations to other ways of thinking, and their potential to be configured in alternative fascinating and fruitful ways?This article incorporates existing approaches to comparative philosophy within a single scheme of complementary philosophical activities, and a single overarching metaphilosophical project. These approaches are (1) ‘archival’ (exploring parallel but separate philosophical traditions), (2) ‘equivalentist’ (comparing traditions in terms of analogies and contrasts), and (3) ‘problem-solving’ (using multiple traditions to provide philosophical solutions). I situate these within (4) the overarching hermeneutic project of ‘mapping’ concepts and their possibilities. This entails the theory that philosophies drawing on multiple perspectives are always implicitly engaged in mapping out the underlying eidetic structure upon which philosophy does its work, and charting the conceptual possibilities surrounding any idea.

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“…To some degree it is in line with a new shift among philosophers of religion who have argued against the narrow understanding of philosophy. For instance, Timothy Knepper points out that 'if one wants to philosophize about religion, then one needs to understand religion in all its messy cultural-historical diversity' (Knepper 2013, 76, cited in Burley 2018). Knepper's point follows a development among modern philosophers who argue increasingly for diversifying philosophy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Axé as the cornerstone of Candomblé philosophy and its significance for an understanding of well-being (bem estar)

Schmidt

2024

Rel. Stud.

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According to Candomblé, axé is present in every living being and is necessary to life. To develop and maintain a sense of well-being, one must maintain a balanced level of axé which is linked to a reciprocal relationship between human beings and orixás (African deities). This article will explore the link between the spiritual force axé and well-being (bem estar) within Candomblé philosophy. Starting with explaining axé within the context of Candomblé and its concept of personhood, the article will reflect in the latter part on the concept of well-being from the perspective of axé and put forward an argument for the inclusion of Candomblé in philosophy of religion.

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The Ends of Philosophy of Religion

Cited by 30 publications

References 0 publications

Pragmatic Realism, Religious Truth, and Antitheodicy: On Viewing the World by Acknowledging the Other

Pragmatic Realism, Religious Truth, and Antitheodicy: On Viewing the World by Acknowledging the Other

‘The view from above’: a theory of comparative philosophy

Axé as the cornerstone of Candomblé philosophy and its significance for an understanding of well-being (bem estar)

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