Religious epistemology explained
Religious epistemology broadly covers religious approaches to epistemological questions, or attempts to understand the epistemological issues that come from religious belief. The questions asked by epistemologists apply to religious beliefs and propositions whether they seem rational, justified, warranted, reasonable, based on evidence and so on. Religious views also influence epistemological theories, such as in the case of Reformed epistemology.[1]
Reformed epistemology has mainly developed in contemporary Christian religious epistemology, as in the work of Alvin Plantinga (born 1932), William P. Alston (1921-2009), Nicholas Wolterstorff (born 1932) and Kelly James Clark,[2] as a critique of and alternative to the idea of "evidentialism" of the sort proposed by W. K. Clifford (1845-1879).[3] [4] Alvin Plantinga, for instance, is critical of the evidentialist analysis of knowledge provided by Richard Feldman and by Earl Conee.[5] [6]
D. Z. Phillips (1934-2006) states that the argument of the reformed epistemologists furthers and challenges a view he dubs "foundationalism":
Much work in recent epistemology of religion goes beyond debates on foundationalism and reformed epistemology to consider contemporary issues deriving from social epistemology (especially concerning the epistemology of testimony, or the epistemology of disagreement), or formal epistemology's use of probability theory.[7] Other notable work draws on the idea that knowing God is akin to knowing a person, which is not reducible to knowing propositions about a person.[8]
Some work in recent epistemology of religion discusses various challenges from psychology, cognitive science or evolutionary biology to the rationality or justification of religious beliefs. Some argue that evolutionary explanations of religious belief undermine its rationality.[9] Others respond to these arguments.[10]
See also
External links
Notes and References
- Encyclopedia: Clark . Kelly James . Religious Epistemology . http://www.iep.utm.edu/relig-ep/ . October 2, 2004 . . 2161-0002.
- Book: Clark, Kelly James
. Return to reason: a critique of Enlightenment evidentialism and defense of reason and belief in God . 18 June 2011 . March 1990 . Eerdmans . . 90031016 . 978-0-8028-0456-3.
- Book: Wolterstorff, Nicholas
. Divine discourse: philosophical reflections on the claim that God speaks . 18 June 2011 . 1995 . Cambridge University Press . Cambridge; New York . 94042264 . 978-0-521-47557-0 . 13–16.
- Book: van Woudenberg, René
. Chapter 3: Reformed Epistemology . Philosophy of Religion: Classic and Contemporary Issues . Copan . Paul . Meister . Chad . Blackwell . . 2008 . 2007014537 . 978-1-4051-3990-8.
- Feldman . R. . Conee . E. . 10.1007/BF00372404 . Evidentialism . Philosophical Studies . Kluwer Academic Publishers. 48 . 15–34 . July 1, 1985. 1573-0883.
- Book: Plantinga
, Alvin
. Warrant and Proper Function . limited . 1993 . Oxford University Press . New York . 978-0-19-507864-0 . 92000408 . 185–93.
- Book: Benton, Matthew A.. Knowledge, Belief, and God: New Insights in Religious Epistemology. etal . 2018-04-22. Oxford University Press. 9780198798705. Oxford, New York.
- Book: Stump . Eleonore . Wandering in Darkness: Narrative and the Problem of Suffering . 2010 . Oxford University Press . Oxford . 9780199277421.
- Benton . Matthew . God and Interpersonal Knowledge . Res Philosophica . 2018 . 95 . 3 . 421–447 . 10.11612/resphil.1666 . ; and Book: Benton . Matthew . Knowledge and God . 2024 . Cambridge University Press . Cambridge . 9781009124119 .
- Encyclopedia: Wilkins . John S. . Griffiths . Paul E. . Dawes . Gregory . Maclaurin . James . Evolutionary debunking arguments in three domains . 2012 . A New Science of Religion . 133–146 . Routledge . 9781138108929 . 10.4324/9780203086131-14.
- Van Eyghen . Hans . Is supernatural belief unreliably formed? . 2019 . International Journal for Philosophy of Religion . 1–18.
