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Monday, 30 June 2014

Sociology is intriguing, valuable and important


Just as there are many notions of what philosophy is, and many notions of what religion is, there are also many notions of what philosophy of religion is.

There are many valuable enterprises that philosophy of religion might be but isn't.  Unlike apologetics which are always committed in advance, philosophy of religion, like all philosophy, requires suspending judgment on how the arguments will turn out.

It is not comparative religion and it is not psychology.  Psychology of religion looks at religion from a historical or genealogical perspective, not from a consideration of the coherence or truth of their beliefs.

It is not history of religion.  History of religion does attempt to explain as well as describe, but it is concerned with how people believe and act, not with whether their beliefs and actions are "correct."

It is not theology, and it is not religious philosophy.  Those are much closer to apologetics then to philosophy of religion.

There are a few not-very-valuable enterprises that philosophy of religion might be but isn't so we are going to leave our direction to one central question and it is an epistemological one -- Is religious knowledge possible?

The sort of religion we might do in philosophy with, contra "multiculturalism and diversity," is a narrow perspective called "ethical monotheism."  The religions that have been most important historically in the world in which we live are Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, all examples of ethical monotheism.







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