Prolegomena to a Philosophy of Religion

Contents

vii Contents Preface ix 1. On Religion 1 1. Why Discuss This Issue? 1 2. Religion and the Religions 3 3. The Family Resemblance Approach 7 4. A Definition of “Religion”? 12 5. Defining “Religion” for Philosophy 23 6. From Theism to Ultimism 37 2. On Belief 39 1. Propositional Belief as a Form of Thought 40 2. A Contrary View: Belief as Confidence 50 3. Thought-Plus? 59 4. The Involuntariness of Propositional Belief 65 5. A Distinct Impression: Affective Belief 67 3. On Religious Belief and Religious Disbelief 75 1. Propositional Religious Belief 75 2. Affective Religious Belief 85 3. Propositional Religious Disbelief 88 4. Affective Religious Disbelief 91 4. On Religious Skepticism 95 1. Doubts and Doubting 95 2. Four Types of Religious Skepticism 97 3. Passive and Active Skepticism 101 5. On Religious Faith (I) 106 1. Finding “Faith” 107 2. Faith and Action: The Nature of Trust 109 3. Is Trust Present in All Forms of Religion? 120 4. Trust and the Nature of Faith 123 5. Faith: Propositional and Operational 125 6. On Religious Faith (II) 127 1. Propositional Faith as a Nonbelieving State 129 2. Some Operational Corollaries 139 3. Related Views 141 4. Religious Language and the Voluntariness of Faith 147 5. Replies to Religious Objections 160 7. On the Aims of Philosophy of Religion 167 1. The Received View: Meaning and Justification 168 2. The Nature of Justification 173 3. Building on the Received View: Theory and Practices 184 4. The Aims of Philosophy of Religion—A Proposal 191 8. On Principles of Evaluation in Philosophy of Religion 195 1. Some Principles of Response Justification 197 2. Truth or Consequences? 206 3. Evaluating Responses to Ultimism: Priority and Strategy 220 Index 223 viii Contents ...