28 September 2008
Philosophy of Religion, A-K
Antirealism. A philosophical theory that denies the mind-independent existence of some type of being or of being in general. The former type of antirealism may be called regional antirealism; the latter may be called global antirealism. Examples of regional antirealists would be philosophers who reject the independent reality of numbers, abstract entities in general, and unobservable theoretical entities in science. Global antirealists, influenced by Immanuel Kant, typically argue that that humans cannot know reality as it is in itself, independent of our human concepts.
Autonomy. A key concept in the ethical theory of Immanuel Kant, who held that a genuine moral obligation must be seen as legislated by reason and thus that a rational moral agent is himself the source of moral obligations. Kant saw and individual who behaves in accordance with morality out of a fear of punishment or desire for a reward as heteronomous, not autonomous. Some contemporary radical theologians have argued that the very existence of a Creator-God to whom human beings are responsible would be a threat to human moral autonomy, and consequently they have proposed that God be understood as a humanly invented symbol or idealization.
Kant, Immanuel (1724-1804. One of the greatest modern philosophers, whose critical philosophy attempted to synthesize the insights of both rationalism and empiricism. Kant argued in his Critique of Pure Reason that genuine scientific knowledge is possible but that this knowledge is of “phenomenal” reality—that is, reality as it appears to us, rather than reality as it is in itself. Human knowledge is always structured by space and time, which are the “forms of intuition” of the human mind, and by the categories provided by the human understanding such as causality and substance. As Kant saw it, though traditional natural theology is a failure and no theoretical knowledge of God is possible, recognizing the limits of reason allows room for a rational, moral faith. As we strive to live morally in accordance with the categorical imperative, we must rationally presuppose human freedom, the existence of God and immortality.
Aristotle (384-322 BC). One of the most famous philosophers of ancient Greece. Although Aristotle had been a student of Plato, he rejected Plato’s doctrine of transcendent Forms in favour of the claim that universal properties exist immanently in particulars, which he saw as a synthesis of form and matter. Aristotle invented logic as a formal discipline and wrote on a wide range of topics, including metaphysics, ethics and much that would today be classified as natural science, including biology and physics. Aristotle’s followers are sometimes called Peripatetics because of his habit of lecturing as he walked on the grounds of the Lyceum, his philosophical school in Athens.
Arminianism. A system of Christian doctrine inspired by the thought of Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609), a Dutch theologian and pastor. Arminius taught that God’s election for salvation was conditional on his foreknowledge of human free choice. Though he thought of himself as a follower of John Calvin, his views were rejected by the Reformed Synod of Dordt. The relations between human free will and divine electing grace is still hotly debated within many Christian denominations, with those who emphasize free will often labeled Armenians.
Empiricism. Type of epistemological theory that, in contract with epistemological rationalism, gives primacy to sense experience in the acquisition of knowledge. There are many types of empiricism. In the ancient world, Aristotle was much more empiricist than was Plato, who emphasized innate ideas. This same difference was reflected in medieval philosophers, some of whom were Platonists, while others, such as Thomas Aquinas, followed Aristotle more closely. In modern philosophy the British philosophers John Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume are the most significant empiricists. In the twentieth century logical positivism and its successors represented the empiricist tradition.
Berkeley, George (1685-1753). One of the great trio of British empiricist philosophers, along with John Locke and David Hume. Berkeley, who was an Irish Anglican and became a bishop, is famous for his defense of idealism, holding that only minds and mental events and properties exist. By rejecting the existence of matter and affirming that “to be is to be perceived,” Berkeley hoped to undermine the basis for materialistic atheism.
Hume, David (1711-1776). Scottish philosopher who was one of the preeminent thinkers of the Enlightenment. Hume was an empiricist who claimed that all knowledge of “matters of fact” (any knowledge not grounded in the meanings of terms) is based on sense experience. Hume developed powerful arguments that our knowledge of cause and effect and reliance on inductive reasoning are not in themselves rationally justifiable but are based on “custom.” In philosophy of religion, Hume is famous, first, for his argument that belief in miracles is irrational because the evidence of past experience will always outweigh the testimony in favour of miracles, and second, for a powerful critique of natural theology in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
Locke, John (1632-1704). English philosopher who defended empiricism in epistemology and social contract theory of the state. Locke—one of the founders of modern philosophy—put forward and empiricist epistemology partly as a way of trying to resolve and control bloody religious conflicts. He defended an ethic that requires human to inspect their beliefs and try to ensure that they are holding those beliefs with a degree of confidence proportional to the evidence on which they are based. Locke thought that his epistemology could support a reasonable form of Christianity while limiting what he called “enthusiasm.” His political thinking stressed the idea that the state is based on a social contract with the citizens and can therefore lose legitimacy if that contract is undermined. This idea was influential on the founding fathers of the United State.
Buddhism. Religion founded by Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, or “enlightened one” (c. 563-483 BC). Buddhism puts heavy emphasis on desire as the source of suffering and identifies the achievement of selflessness as the cure for this situation. Selflessness can be achieved through the Eightfold Path, freeing the individual from the wheel of reincarnation and allowing him or her to achieve nirvana. Buddhism is divided to Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism, the latter putting more emphasis on the role of Buddha himself as a compassionate helper.
Camus, Albert (1913-1960). French existentialist novelist and essayist. Camus is famous for his depiction of the absurd, which he descried as the incongruity between the human self that demands meaning and purpose and an indifferent world that offers none. Camus described an existentialist hero who derives some meaning in this meaningless world by an attitude of revolt. This absurd hero clearly understands the futility of the revolt, but he takes up the burden (like Sisyphus, who rolls a rock up a mountain, even though that rock will inevitably roll down again). Thus he refuses “the leap” which Camus attributes to Soren Kierkegaard.
Confucianism. Chinese school of ethical, political and religious teachings commonly attributed to Confucius (c. 551-479 BC). Confucianism places great weight on the cultivation of ethical virtues such as kingliness, humaneness and gentlemanliness that are cultivated through rituals. Ethical duties within Confucianism depend on one’s social and family position. There is some dispute over the religious character of Confucianism, centering on the nature of tian, or “heaven,” which is in some way the ground of our ethical duties. Some have interpreted this concept as transcendent, metaphysical way, while neo-Confucians tend to think of “heaven” as a metaphorical way of describing the natural ethical order of things.
Darwinism. The theory of the development of biological life originated by Charles Darwin (1809-1882), which holds that the mechanism for evolutionary development is made up of chance variations and natural selection involving competition for survival and reproduction. Darwinism sharply reduced the popularity of the argument from design in England and North America. Many religious thinkers regard Darwinism as compatible with the view that God is the Creator of the universe, seeing natural selection as a means employed by God. Nevertheless, atheists often regard Darwinism as strongly supporting their worldview. That opinion is shared by many advocates of “creation science,” who advocate non-Darwinian accounts of the origin of species. Darwinian thought is influential today in such fields as psychology and sociology. Advocates of Darwinian approaches view many aspects of human culture, even such things as ethics and religion, with respect to presumed reproductive advantages they provide.
Derrida, Jacques (1930- ). French philosopher who is regarded as the founder of deconstructionism, an important stream in what is often called postmodernism or poststructuralism. Derrida criticizes modernity for it commitment to “the metaphysics of presence” and what Martin Heidegger termed “onto-theology.” Deconstruction itself fosters a way of thinking that looks for contradictions between the ideals of modernism and its realities. It also promotes a way of reading that looks for contradictions between what a writer intends to say and what the text actually says.
Descartes, Rene (1596-1650). French philosopher and mathematician, generally regarded as the father of modern philosophy. Descartes was a rationalist who is well known for his attempt to gain certainty through a process of universal, methodical doubt in which he posed the possibility that his waking experience was indistinguishable from a dream world as well as the possibility that he was being deceived by an all-powerful evil genius. After establishing clear and distinct ideas as his standard for truth, Descartes defended soul-body (or mind-body) dualism and gave a number of proofs for the existence of God.
Pragmaticism. Philosophical movement that views ideas and beliefs in relation to their implications for action. A pragmatic theory of meaning should be distinguished from a pragmatic theory of truth that rejects the idea of truth as correspondence to reality. Pragmatism was developed in America by Charles Sanders Pierce, William James and John Dewey. Pragmatism is a form of empiricism but one that views experience as a form of dynamic interaction between the self and the environment, rather than consisting of sensations. The movement has recently been revived and interpreted in a postmodern manner by Richard Rory.
Dewey, John (1859-1952). One of the leaders of American pragmatism and an advocate of democratic liberalism and educational reform. Dewey was committed to philosophical naturalism and, unlike his fellow pragmatist William James, had little interest in religious experience of the possibility of an afterlife. In A Common Faith he attempted to develop a version of religious faith (or perhaps a successor to such faith) that involved the veneration of the natural order, human potential and the ideals of democracy.
James, William (1842-1910). American philosopher and psychologist and one of the originators of pragmatism. In philosophy of religion James is known for his argument in “The Will to Believe” that faith can be reasonable even if it is not supported by the preponderance of evidence. He is known as well for his astute descriptions of the religious life in The Varieties of Religious Experience.
Dualism. Any philosophical theory that posits two distinct primary substances or that is built around a fundamental distinction between two elements. The term is used in a variety of contexts to designate entirely different kinds of theories. For example, ancient Manichaeism was a form of dualism postulating two equal but opposing divine realities, a good power of light and an evil power of darkness. Theism has a dualistic dimension in that it makes a clear distinction between God and the created order, between the infinite and finite. Theories positing that the mind (or soul) and the body are distinct substances are also referred to as dualisms, though there are important differences among Platonic, Thomistic and Cartesian forms of mind-body dualism.
Edwards, Jonathan (1703-1758). American philosopher and theologian who synthesized Enlightenment scientific and philosophical ideas with historic Calvinism. Edwards’s thought is distinguished by commitments to George Berkeley’s idealism, to compatibilism with respect to freedom and determinism, and to an interesting view of God’s holiness as “the disinterest love of being” that constitutes “true beauty.” Edwards believed that a person must have a love for beauty in this form in order to acquire religious truth, and thus he devoted much attention to the development of religious affections, or emotions. Edwards is also important as one of the founders of revivalism in North America.
Epistemology. The branch of philosophy concerned with questions about knowledge and belief and related issues such as justification and truth. Some conceive of epistemology as an attempt to refute skepticism, the denial that knowledge is possible. One of the major debates in epistemology is that of internalism versus externalism: Must the basis or ground that warrants a belief be internally accessible to consciousness? Another major debate is foundationalism versus coherentism: Are some beliefs “properly basic,” or are all beliefs based on other beliefs in an interconnected web? Some philosophers of religion have argued that critiques of religious belief as unreasonable are grounded in faulty epistemologies, theories of knowledge that if applied to fields other than religion would make knowledge impossible in those other fields as well.
Existentialism. Cluster of philosophies popular after World War II that stressed that human existence is constituted by the choices people make. Existentialists have no agreed-upon body of beliefs but tended to stress the freedom, precariousness and even absurdity of the human situation, along with the responsibility of the individual to define himself through action. Though existentialism was inspired by nineteenth-century thinkers Soren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, neither of these philosophers would have endorsed much of was passed as existentialism. There were both atheistic (Jean Paul Sartre and Albert Camus) and religious (Martin Buber and Gabrial-Honore Marcel) versions, but in the popular mind existentialism is seen as atheistic.
Feuerbach, Ludwig (1804-1872). German philosopher who developed the projection theory of religion in which God is understood as a projection of unfulfilled human potential. Thus, according to this theory, religion is really anthropology. Feuerbach was a materialist who had a strong influence on Karl Marx. Feuerbach held that human progress demands a demystification of the religious consciousness and a return to concrete problems of human existence.
Foundationalism. Type of epistemology holding that though many beliefs are based on other beliefs, some beliefs must be held in a basic or foundational manner in order to avoid an infinite regress of beliefs. Classical foundationalism held that basic beliefs must be highly certain (self-evident or experientially certain) to be properly held, while some contemporary foundationalists, such as advocates of Reformed Epistemology, accept the fallibility of basic beliefs.
Freud, Sigmund (1856-1939). Austrian physician and psychological theorizer, founder of psychoanalysis. In philosophy of religion, Freud is known for his theory that belief in God is an illusion that arises out of the Oedipal complex, in which a child has a relation to what appears to the child to be an all-powerful father, on whom the child is dependent and whose good will the child desires. Freud does not appear to have noticed that his psychological theory, which holds that the child also resents and envies the powerful father, could provide an equally reductionistic explanation of antireligious beliefs. Nor did he consider the possibility that the child’s relation to the parents, rather than being a mechanism for the formation of an illusion, could be divinely ordained model whereby God provides a conception of himself.
Gadamer, Hans-Georg (1900-). German philosopher who developed a philosophical hermeneutic that sees interpretation as a fundamental dimension to human existence. Gadamer, who was a student of Martin Heidegger, criticizes the Enlightenment for its “Prejudice against prejudices” and argues that understanding requires us to grasp a text against a “horizon of meaning” provided by a tradition. The interpreter brings to the encounter his own horizon of meaning, and genuine understanding occurs when there is a “fusion of horizons.”
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). Italian astronomer and physicist and one of the great early modern scientists. Galileo invented the modern science of mechanics and defended Copernicus’ theory that the sun in the centre of the solar system. He was called before the Inquisition and forced to recant his views. This episode is often cited as evidence of the conflict between religion and science. However, it is noteworthy that Galileo was himself deeply religious and even gave theological justifications for his approach to science.
Gnosticism. A religious movement popular in the second and third centuries of the Christian church. Gnosticism’s influence can be seen in various Christian heresies and in Christian polemics against the movement’s tendencies. Gnostics believed in the possibility of a higher level of spiritual knowledge, or gnosis, and recommended various means of achieving this higher spiritual state. Gnostics tended to depreciate the material world in favour of the higher spiritual world. The term is more often used more loosely to refer to religious movements of any time period that emphasize esoteric spiritual knowledge.
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (1770-1831). German philosopher who developed a philosophical system called Absolute Idealism. In this system the whole of reality is seen as the progressive unfolding of an Absolute Mind (identified with God), achieved through a dialectical process in which Geist (Spirit or Mind) repeatedly becomes alienated from itself and then overcomes that negation in a higher unity. Hegel saw human history as the place where the Absolute becomes self-conscious, and he saw the modern liberal state as the highest form of Spirit, an ethical community in which art, religion and philosophy—the three forms of Absolute Spirit—can flourish. Both Karl Marx and Soren Kierkegaard reacted critically against Hegel while at the same time being influence by him in many ways.
Heidegger, Martin (1889-1976). German philosopher whose life’s work centred on the question of the meaning of being. After early training in theology, Heidegger switched to philosophy to study with phenomenologist Edmund Husserl. His famous early work Being and Time attempted to discern the meaning of being by looking at human being (dasein)—that being whose very being involves the question of being and who must resolutely face up to the temporality implied by a person’s own death. In his later writings, Heidegger changed his focus toward a mode philosophizing in which the “call of Being” that has been repressed by technology and instrumental thinking can perhaps be discerned in the poet and the world of art. Heidegger had a great influence on existentialism, though he repudiated the uses of existentialists made of his work. His embrace of National Socialism has made him a controversial figure, though he remains influential, especially for postmodern philosophers.
Hinduism. The dominant religious respective of India, which is defined by the authority of the religious writings called the Vedas and Upanishads. Hinduism is more a group of religious traditions than a single religious faith, since within Hinduism one can find both theistic and monistic views of God and profound disagreements about such things as the nature of personal identity. Generally, Hinduism is characterized by an acceptance of the doctrine of reincarnation, or transmigration of the soul, and the goal of the religious devotee is seen as the deliverance of the soul from the cycle of reincarnation.
Hobbes, Thomas (1588-1679). English philosopher best known for his political thought, though he also developed a mechanistic, deterministic, materialistic metaphysic and an empiricist epistemology. In his Leviathan Hobbes developed a form of social contract theory, in which humans give up the rights they have in the state of nature, where life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” And create a commonwealth by assigning those rights to a sovereign. The sovereign determines what is just and unjust, and thus the sovereign itself (a person or group) cannot be unjust.
Humanism. A view that assigns a special place and value to human beings and their activities and achievements. Originally, the term was used to denote a movement associated with the development and flourishing of the humanities—those disciplines that deal with human nature and human achievements, such as literature, philosophy and the arts. In the nineteenth century, however, the term was co-opted by August Comte for his “religion of humanity,” which he developed a secular replacement for traditional religious faith. The term continues to be used in this way, as in the Humanist Manifesto. However, there is also a rich tradition of Christian humanism. Many Christian humanists are convinced that only in a religious worldview is the value of human life really understood and safeguarded.
Husserl, Edmund (1859-1938). German philosopher who was the found of phenomenology and a teacher of Martin Heidegger. Phenomenology is the attempt to develop a philosophy that describes experience as it is lived, prior to any scientific theorizing that grows out of that experience. Husserl taught that consciousness is “intentional” and that it can be described both with respect to its subjective act and with respect to the object of its intention, both of which are present in a unified way in experience. There is an irony present in Husserl’s project: whereas his major passion was to make philosophy a rigorous science that would allow it to become a foundational discipline for all the other sciences, his major influence has been on existentialist and poststructuralist philosophers who reject that ideal and think of philosophy as hermeneutical.
Islam. Monotheistic religion that originated in what is today Saudi Arabia in the seventh century as a result of the prophetic teachings of Muhammad, recorded in the Qur’an. Islam emphasizes submission to Allah (God) and accepts Judaism and Christianity as partially true, grounded in earlier revelations from God. In the medieval period Islam provided a congenial environment for the philosophy of religion. The intellectual product of Islamic thinkers such as al-Farabi, Avicenna and Averroes, who creatively synthesized the monotheistic faith of the Qur’an with the Greek philosophical thought of Plato and Aristotle in the early Middle Ages. These thinkers grappled with such questions as the nature of creation and the relation of God to the world and the compatibility of human freedom and divine sovereignty.
Kierkegaard, Soren (1813-1855). Danish Christian philosopher and theologian, whose writings contain a stinging critique of G. W. F. Hegel and idealism, liberal theology, and the whole culture of Christendom, which assumes that we are all Christina by virtue of being Danes, Americans, or whatever. Kierkegaard considered himself to be a missionary whose vocation was the reintroduce Christianity into Christendom. His philosophical work focuses on the nature of human existence, since he thought that Christianity must first be understood as a way of existing but that people have forgotten what it means to exist as a human being. Kierkegaard rejected apologetic attempts to make Christianity appear reasonable, holding that New Testament Christianity must always appear foolish to the worldly mind and that genuine proclamation of the Gospel always maintains the possibility of offense. He stressed the qualitative difference between God and the human beings and viewed the incarnation as an absolute paradox that human reason cannot understand but can only believe in faith.
Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion, C. Stephen Evans
Autonomy. A key concept in the ethical theory of Immanuel Kant, who held that a genuine moral obligation must be seen as legislated by reason and thus that a rational moral agent is himself the source of moral obligations. Kant saw and individual who behaves in accordance with morality out of a fear of punishment or desire for a reward as heteronomous, not autonomous. Some contemporary radical theologians have argued that the very existence of a Creator-God to whom human beings are responsible would be a threat to human moral autonomy, and consequently they have proposed that God be understood as a humanly invented symbol or idealization.
Kant, Immanuel (1724-1804. One of the greatest modern philosophers, whose critical philosophy attempted to synthesize the insights of both rationalism and empiricism. Kant argued in his Critique of Pure Reason that genuine scientific knowledge is possible but that this knowledge is of “phenomenal” reality—that is, reality as it appears to us, rather than reality as it is in itself. Human knowledge is always structured by space and time, which are the “forms of intuition” of the human mind, and by the categories provided by the human understanding such as causality and substance. As Kant saw it, though traditional natural theology is a failure and no theoretical knowledge of God is possible, recognizing the limits of reason allows room for a rational, moral faith. As we strive to live morally in accordance with the categorical imperative, we must rationally presuppose human freedom, the existence of God and immortality.
Aristotle (384-322 BC). One of the most famous philosophers of ancient Greece. Although Aristotle had been a student of Plato, he rejected Plato’s doctrine of transcendent Forms in favour of the claim that universal properties exist immanently in particulars, which he saw as a synthesis of form and matter. Aristotle invented logic as a formal discipline and wrote on a wide range of topics, including metaphysics, ethics and much that would today be classified as natural science, including biology and physics. Aristotle’s followers are sometimes called Peripatetics because of his habit of lecturing as he walked on the grounds of the Lyceum, his philosophical school in Athens.
Arminianism. A system of Christian doctrine inspired by the thought of Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609), a Dutch theologian and pastor. Arminius taught that God’s election for salvation was conditional on his foreknowledge of human free choice. Though he thought of himself as a follower of John Calvin, his views were rejected by the Reformed Synod of Dordt. The relations between human free will and divine electing grace is still hotly debated within many Christian denominations, with those who emphasize free will often labeled Armenians.
Empiricism. Type of epistemological theory that, in contract with epistemological rationalism, gives primacy to sense experience in the acquisition of knowledge. There are many types of empiricism. In the ancient world, Aristotle was much more empiricist than was Plato, who emphasized innate ideas. This same difference was reflected in medieval philosophers, some of whom were Platonists, while others, such as Thomas Aquinas, followed Aristotle more closely. In modern philosophy the British philosophers John Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume are the most significant empiricists. In the twentieth century logical positivism and its successors represented the empiricist tradition.
Berkeley, George (1685-1753). One of the great trio of British empiricist philosophers, along with John Locke and David Hume. Berkeley, who was an Irish Anglican and became a bishop, is famous for his defense of idealism, holding that only minds and mental events and properties exist. By rejecting the existence of matter and affirming that “to be is to be perceived,” Berkeley hoped to undermine the basis for materialistic atheism.
Hume, David (1711-1776). Scottish philosopher who was one of the preeminent thinkers of the Enlightenment. Hume was an empiricist who claimed that all knowledge of “matters of fact” (any knowledge not grounded in the meanings of terms) is based on sense experience. Hume developed powerful arguments that our knowledge of cause and effect and reliance on inductive reasoning are not in themselves rationally justifiable but are based on “custom.” In philosophy of religion, Hume is famous, first, for his argument that belief in miracles is irrational because the evidence of past experience will always outweigh the testimony in favour of miracles, and second, for a powerful critique of natural theology in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
Locke, John (1632-1704). English philosopher who defended empiricism in epistemology and social contract theory of the state. Locke—one of the founders of modern philosophy—put forward and empiricist epistemology partly as a way of trying to resolve and control bloody religious conflicts. He defended an ethic that requires human to inspect their beliefs and try to ensure that they are holding those beliefs with a degree of confidence proportional to the evidence on which they are based. Locke thought that his epistemology could support a reasonable form of Christianity while limiting what he called “enthusiasm.” His political thinking stressed the idea that the state is based on a social contract with the citizens and can therefore lose legitimacy if that contract is undermined. This idea was influential on the founding fathers of the United State.
Buddhism. Religion founded by Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, or “enlightened one” (c. 563-483 BC). Buddhism puts heavy emphasis on desire as the source of suffering and identifies the achievement of selflessness as the cure for this situation. Selflessness can be achieved through the Eightfold Path, freeing the individual from the wheel of reincarnation and allowing him or her to achieve nirvana. Buddhism is divided to Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism, the latter putting more emphasis on the role of Buddha himself as a compassionate helper.
Camus, Albert (1913-1960). French existentialist novelist and essayist. Camus is famous for his depiction of the absurd, which he descried as the incongruity between the human self that demands meaning and purpose and an indifferent world that offers none. Camus described an existentialist hero who derives some meaning in this meaningless world by an attitude of revolt. This absurd hero clearly understands the futility of the revolt, but he takes up the burden (like Sisyphus, who rolls a rock up a mountain, even though that rock will inevitably roll down again). Thus he refuses “the leap” which Camus attributes to Soren Kierkegaard.
Confucianism. Chinese school of ethical, political and religious teachings commonly attributed to Confucius (c. 551-479 BC). Confucianism places great weight on the cultivation of ethical virtues such as kingliness, humaneness and gentlemanliness that are cultivated through rituals. Ethical duties within Confucianism depend on one’s social and family position. There is some dispute over the religious character of Confucianism, centering on the nature of tian, or “heaven,” which is in some way the ground of our ethical duties. Some have interpreted this concept as transcendent, metaphysical way, while neo-Confucians tend to think of “heaven” as a metaphorical way of describing the natural ethical order of things.
Darwinism. The theory of the development of biological life originated by Charles Darwin (1809-1882), which holds that the mechanism for evolutionary development is made up of chance variations and natural selection involving competition for survival and reproduction. Darwinism sharply reduced the popularity of the argument from design in England and North America. Many religious thinkers regard Darwinism as compatible with the view that God is the Creator of the universe, seeing natural selection as a means employed by God. Nevertheless, atheists often regard Darwinism as strongly supporting their worldview. That opinion is shared by many advocates of “creation science,” who advocate non-Darwinian accounts of the origin of species. Darwinian thought is influential today in such fields as psychology and sociology. Advocates of Darwinian approaches view many aspects of human culture, even such things as ethics and religion, with respect to presumed reproductive advantages they provide.
Derrida, Jacques (1930- ). French philosopher who is regarded as the founder of deconstructionism, an important stream in what is often called postmodernism or poststructuralism. Derrida criticizes modernity for it commitment to “the metaphysics of presence” and what Martin Heidegger termed “onto-theology.” Deconstruction itself fosters a way of thinking that looks for contradictions between the ideals of modernism and its realities. It also promotes a way of reading that looks for contradictions between what a writer intends to say and what the text actually says.
Descartes, Rene (1596-1650). French philosopher and mathematician, generally regarded as the father of modern philosophy. Descartes was a rationalist who is well known for his attempt to gain certainty through a process of universal, methodical doubt in which he posed the possibility that his waking experience was indistinguishable from a dream world as well as the possibility that he was being deceived by an all-powerful evil genius. After establishing clear and distinct ideas as his standard for truth, Descartes defended soul-body (or mind-body) dualism and gave a number of proofs for the existence of God.
Pragmaticism. Philosophical movement that views ideas and beliefs in relation to their implications for action. A pragmatic theory of meaning should be distinguished from a pragmatic theory of truth that rejects the idea of truth as correspondence to reality. Pragmatism was developed in America by Charles Sanders Pierce, William James and John Dewey. Pragmatism is a form of empiricism but one that views experience as a form of dynamic interaction between the self and the environment, rather than consisting of sensations. The movement has recently been revived and interpreted in a postmodern manner by Richard Rory.
Dewey, John (1859-1952). One of the leaders of American pragmatism and an advocate of democratic liberalism and educational reform. Dewey was committed to philosophical naturalism and, unlike his fellow pragmatist William James, had little interest in religious experience of the possibility of an afterlife. In A Common Faith he attempted to develop a version of religious faith (or perhaps a successor to such faith) that involved the veneration of the natural order, human potential and the ideals of democracy.
James, William (1842-1910). American philosopher and psychologist and one of the originators of pragmatism. In philosophy of religion James is known for his argument in “The Will to Believe” that faith can be reasonable even if it is not supported by the preponderance of evidence. He is known as well for his astute descriptions of the religious life in The Varieties of Religious Experience.
Dualism. Any philosophical theory that posits two distinct primary substances or that is built around a fundamental distinction between two elements. The term is used in a variety of contexts to designate entirely different kinds of theories. For example, ancient Manichaeism was a form of dualism postulating two equal but opposing divine realities, a good power of light and an evil power of darkness. Theism has a dualistic dimension in that it makes a clear distinction between God and the created order, between the infinite and finite. Theories positing that the mind (or soul) and the body are distinct substances are also referred to as dualisms, though there are important differences among Platonic, Thomistic and Cartesian forms of mind-body dualism.
Edwards, Jonathan (1703-1758). American philosopher and theologian who synthesized Enlightenment scientific and philosophical ideas with historic Calvinism. Edwards’s thought is distinguished by commitments to George Berkeley’s idealism, to compatibilism with respect to freedom and determinism, and to an interesting view of God’s holiness as “the disinterest love of being” that constitutes “true beauty.” Edwards believed that a person must have a love for beauty in this form in order to acquire religious truth, and thus he devoted much attention to the development of religious affections, or emotions. Edwards is also important as one of the founders of revivalism in North America.
Epistemology. The branch of philosophy concerned with questions about knowledge and belief and related issues such as justification and truth. Some conceive of epistemology as an attempt to refute skepticism, the denial that knowledge is possible. One of the major debates in epistemology is that of internalism versus externalism: Must the basis or ground that warrants a belief be internally accessible to consciousness? Another major debate is foundationalism versus coherentism: Are some beliefs “properly basic,” or are all beliefs based on other beliefs in an interconnected web? Some philosophers of religion have argued that critiques of religious belief as unreasonable are grounded in faulty epistemologies, theories of knowledge that if applied to fields other than religion would make knowledge impossible in those other fields as well.
Existentialism. Cluster of philosophies popular after World War II that stressed that human existence is constituted by the choices people make. Existentialists have no agreed-upon body of beliefs but tended to stress the freedom, precariousness and even absurdity of the human situation, along with the responsibility of the individual to define himself through action. Though existentialism was inspired by nineteenth-century thinkers Soren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, neither of these philosophers would have endorsed much of was passed as existentialism. There were both atheistic (Jean Paul Sartre and Albert Camus) and religious (Martin Buber and Gabrial-Honore Marcel) versions, but in the popular mind existentialism is seen as atheistic.
Feuerbach, Ludwig (1804-1872). German philosopher who developed the projection theory of religion in which God is understood as a projection of unfulfilled human potential. Thus, according to this theory, religion is really anthropology. Feuerbach was a materialist who had a strong influence on Karl Marx. Feuerbach held that human progress demands a demystification of the religious consciousness and a return to concrete problems of human existence.
Foundationalism. Type of epistemology holding that though many beliefs are based on other beliefs, some beliefs must be held in a basic or foundational manner in order to avoid an infinite regress of beliefs. Classical foundationalism held that basic beliefs must be highly certain (self-evident or experientially certain) to be properly held, while some contemporary foundationalists, such as advocates of Reformed Epistemology, accept the fallibility of basic beliefs.
Freud, Sigmund (1856-1939). Austrian physician and psychological theorizer, founder of psychoanalysis. In philosophy of religion, Freud is known for his theory that belief in God is an illusion that arises out of the Oedipal complex, in which a child has a relation to what appears to the child to be an all-powerful father, on whom the child is dependent and whose good will the child desires. Freud does not appear to have noticed that his psychological theory, which holds that the child also resents and envies the powerful father, could provide an equally reductionistic explanation of antireligious beliefs. Nor did he consider the possibility that the child’s relation to the parents, rather than being a mechanism for the formation of an illusion, could be divinely ordained model whereby God provides a conception of himself.
Gadamer, Hans-Georg (1900-). German philosopher who developed a philosophical hermeneutic that sees interpretation as a fundamental dimension to human existence. Gadamer, who was a student of Martin Heidegger, criticizes the Enlightenment for its “Prejudice against prejudices” and argues that understanding requires us to grasp a text against a “horizon of meaning” provided by a tradition. The interpreter brings to the encounter his own horizon of meaning, and genuine understanding occurs when there is a “fusion of horizons.”
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). Italian astronomer and physicist and one of the great early modern scientists. Galileo invented the modern science of mechanics and defended Copernicus’ theory that the sun in the centre of the solar system. He was called before the Inquisition and forced to recant his views. This episode is often cited as evidence of the conflict between religion and science. However, it is noteworthy that Galileo was himself deeply religious and even gave theological justifications for his approach to science.
Gnosticism. A religious movement popular in the second and third centuries of the Christian church. Gnosticism’s influence can be seen in various Christian heresies and in Christian polemics against the movement’s tendencies. Gnostics believed in the possibility of a higher level of spiritual knowledge, or gnosis, and recommended various means of achieving this higher spiritual state. Gnostics tended to depreciate the material world in favour of the higher spiritual world. The term is more often used more loosely to refer to religious movements of any time period that emphasize esoteric spiritual knowledge.
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (1770-1831). German philosopher who developed a philosophical system called Absolute Idealism. In this system the whole of reality is seen as the progressive unfolding of an Absolute Mind (identified with God), achieved through a dialectical process in which Geist (Spirit or Mind) repeatedly becomes alienated from itself and then overcomes that negation in a higher unity. Hegel saw human history as the place where the Absolute becomes self-conscious, and he saw the modern liberal state as the highest form of Spirit, an ethical community in which art, religion and philosophy—the three forms of Absolute Spirit—can flourish. Both Karl Marx and Soren Kierkegaard reacted critically against Hegel while at the same time being influence by him in many ways.
Heidegger, Martin (1889-1976). German philosopher whose life’s work centred on the question of the meaning of being. After early training in theology, Heidegger switched to philosophy to study with phenomenologist Edmund Husserl. His famous early work Being and Time attempted to discern the meaning of being by looking at human being (dasein)—that being whose very being involves the question of being and who must resolutely face up to the temporality implied by a person’s own death. In his later writings, Heidegger changed his focus toward a mode philosophizing in which the “call of Being” that has been repressed by technology and instrumental thinking can perhaps be discerned in the poet and the world of art. Heidegger had a great influence on existentialism, though he repudiated the uses of existentialists made of his work. His embrace of National Socialism has made him a controversial figure, though he remains influential, especially for postmodern philosophers.
Hinduism. The dominant religious respective of India, which is defined by the authority of the religious writings called the Vedas and Upanishads. Hinduism is more a group of religious traditions than a single religious faith, since within Hinduism one can find both theistic and monistic views of God and profound disagreements about such things as the nature of personal identity. Generally, Hinduism is characterized by an acceptance of the doctrine of reincarnation, or transmigration of the soul, and the goal of the religious devotee is seen as the deliverance of the soul from the cycle of reincarnation.
Hobbes, Thomas (1588-1679). English philosopher best known for his political thought, though he also developed a mechanistic, deterministic, materialistic metaphysic and an empiricist epistemology. In his Leviathan Hobbes developed a form of social contract theory, in which humans give up the rights they have in the state of nature, where life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” And create a commonwealth by assigning those rights to a sovereign. The sovereign determines what is just and unjust, and thus the sovereign itself (a person or group) cannot be unjust.
Humanism. A view that assigns a special place and value to human beings and their activities and achievements. Originally, the term was used to denote a movement associated with the development and flourishing of the humanities—those disciplines that deal with human nature and human achievements, such as literature, philosophy and the arts. In the nineteenth century, however, the term was co-opted by August Comte for his “religion of humanity,” which he developed a secular replacement for traditional religious faith. The term continues to be used in this way, as in the Humanist Manifesto. However, there is also a rich tradition of Christian humanism. Many Christian humanists are convinced that only in a religious worldview is the value of human life really understood and safeguarded.
Husserl, Edmund (1859-1938). German philosopher who was the found of phenomenology and a teacher of Martin Heidegger. Phenomenology is the attempt to develop a philosophy that describes experience as it is lived, prior to any scientific theorizing that grows out of that experience. Husserl taught that consciousness is “intentional” and that it can be described both with respect to its subjective act and with respect to the object of its intention, both of which are present in a unified way in experience. There is an irony present in Husserl’s project: whereas his major passion was to make philosophy a rigorous science that would allow it to become a foundational discipline for all the other sciences, his major influence has been on existentialist and poststructuralist philosophers who reject that ideal and think of philosophy as hermeneutical.
Islam. Monotheistic religion that originated in what is today Saudi Arabia in the seventh century as a result of the prophetic teachings of Muhammad, recorded in the Qur’an. Islam emphasizes submission to Allah (God) and accepts Judaism and Christianity as partially true, grounded in earlier revelations from God. In the medieval period Islam provided a congenial environment for the philosophy of religion. The intellectual product of Islamic thinkers such as al-Farabi, Avicenna and Averroes, who creatively synthesized the monotheistic faith of the Qur’an with the Greek philosophical thought of Plato and Aristotle in the early Middle Ages. These thinkers grappled with such questions as the nature of creation and the relation of God to the world and the compatibility of human freedom and divine sovereignty.
Kierkegaard, Soren (1813-1855). Danish Christian philosopher and theologian, whose writings contain a stinging critique of G. W. F. Hegel and idealism, liberal theology, and the whole culture of Christendom, which assumes that we are all Christina by virtue of being Danes, Americans, or whatever. Kierkegaard considered himself to be a missionary whose vocation was the reintroduce Christianity into Christendom. His philosophical work focuses on the nature of human existence, since he thought that Christianity must first be understood as a way of existing but that people have forgotten what it means to exist as a human being. Kierkegaard rejected apologetic attempts to make Christianity appear reasonable, holding that New Testament Christianity must always appear foolish to the worldly mind and that genuine proclamation of the Gospel always maintains the possibility of offense. He stressed the qualitative difference between God and the human beings and viewed the incarnation as an absolute paradox that human reason cannot understand but can only believe in faith.
Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion, C. Stephen Evans
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