Philosophy of Religion

I

Introduction

Philosophy of Religion, critical scrutiny of the claims of established religions and of religious believers. The principal areas of study within the philosophy of religion include: philosophical proofs for the existence of God; philosophical theology, that is, questions arising from attempts to describe God's nature; and religious epistemology, which is concerned with the status of the belief that God exists. The philosophy of religion is one of the oldest branches of philosophy, and is intimately related to other branches of philosophical inquiry, most notably logic, metaphysics, and epistemology. It has also enjoyed a distinguished history within the three main monotheistic traditions—Judaism, Islam, and Christianity—as well as within other religions, for example, Hinduism and Buddhism.

In the Western tradition, most historically important philosophers have made important contributions to the philosophy of religion. These include: Plato, Aristotle, Avicenna, Averroës, Maimonides, Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, René Descartes, Gottfried Leibniz, Baruch Spinoza, and Immanuel Kant. Further to this, non-theistic philosophers, such as David Hume, have made important contributions to the subject. The discipline has also been shaped by critiques of theism from Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud. In this respect, the philosophy of religion is an inclusive subject that is neither indexed to theism, agnosticism, nor atheism, but is simply concerned with the philosophical analysis of those systems of beliefs and practices that are characterized as religion.

II

Philosophical Proofs for the Existence of God

Three main proofs are offered for the existence of a god: the ontological argument; the cosmological argument; and the “argument from design”. These proofs are of interest not only for their rich philosophical history but also as the objects of on-going discussion among present-day philosophers of religion.

The ontological argument is an a priori argument: that is, it does not make any appeal to the facts of experience, but is solely concerned with the implications that stem from thinking about certain concepts. In this case, the concept under consideration is that of God. Two of the more enduring versions of the ontological argument are the versions posited by the 11th-century philosopher St Anselm and by the 17th-century philosopher René Descartes. Anselm began his argument by defining the concept of God as that “which nothing greater can be conceived of”. Therefore, to think of God is to think of something “nothing greater than which can be conceived of”. Anselm then proceeded to draw the implications that stem from this. The first point, he noted, is that something exists in our understanding when we think of it. Given that something exists—viz. God, or that “than which nothing greater can be conceived of”—it must be the case that God, being the greatest thing of which there can be a thought, must not just exist in our understanding but must exist in reality as well. Thus God exists. From a different perspective, Descartes advanced an argument that began with him defining God as a supremely perfect being. He then claimed that anything that is supremely perfect has existence. In this respect, a being that is completely perfect must, of necessity, possess all perfections. Thus, Descartes concluded, as God is the most perfect being, he must exist.

The ontological argument, in whichever version, has been the object of a great deal of philosophical criticism. Traditionally, the objection posed by the 18th-century philosopher Immanuel Kant has been thought to be one of the most decisive. Kant argued that the problem with the argument lay in its claim that existence is a predicate. (A predicate term describes something done by a subject; so, in the sentence “John is eating” the predicate “is eating” describes something that the subject, John, is doing.) Kant argued that existence cannot be a predicate because it does not add any new information to an understanding of the subject. To be told that John is bald, that he is eating, and that he is angry is to add three things to the stock of information about him. However, to be told that he exists does not genuinely communicate something about him. Likewise with God. To state simply that God's existence follows from thinking about him is to have said nothing other than that God exists. Kant argued that nothing of philosophical consequence has been learnt. It is for this reason that many modern-day philosophers have held the ontological argument to be in error.

The other main proofs offered, the cosmological argument and the argument from design, are related. Both are a posteriori arguments, that is, concerned with the objects of experience. Unlike the ontological argument, the cosmological argument always holds what is known as an existential premise; part of the argument asserts that something exists. It then seeks to make clear the view that the reason why there is something rather than nothing is down to the fact that the something in question was caused to come about. The origin of this something, or its first cause, is more often than not claimed to be God. The cosmological argument has enjoyed great appeal among philosophers of widely differing religious traditions. It has been advanced by, for example, the ancient Greeks Plato and Aristotle, the Islamic philosophers Avicenna and members of the Kalam school, the Jewish theorists Maimonides and Spinoza, and Christian philosophers of many denominations such as Aquinas, John Locke, and Leibniz. Despite its broad appeal and historical popularity, the cosmological argument has been subject to much criticism. For example, it is thought that the argument's appeal to the notion of a first cause is problematic or that it arbitrarily demands an explanation for everything, where such a request is considered to be unwarranted. In recent times, philosophers such as William Lane Craig and Richard Swinburne have attempted to exempt the cosmological argument from such criticisms.

The argument from design is concerned with arguing for the existence of a god on the basis of noting certain facts about the nature and purpose of the world. Central to the argument is the idea that as the world is characterized by such a degree of order and regularity it must have been designed for some purpose. From there, the argument invites consideration that the order and regularity in the world were bestowed by a “divine craftsman”, who created the world for a definite reason. Versions of the argument have been proposed by ancient philosophers such as Cicero, as well as by medieval thinkers, for example, Aquinas. It has also proved popular among philosophers with a strong interest in science: an argument from design can be found in the works of the 18th-century philosopher-scientist Isaac Newton and in the work of the 19th-century philosopher-theologian William Paley.

The argument from design's most influential critic was David Hume, who raised four points against it. He said, first, that the argument claims too much; that to infer an effect from a cause is to infer only from what is particular to the effect. Thus, it cannot be inferred that God exists simply from noting that there is regularity and order in the world. Secondly, the universe is unique. On this basis, Hume argued that it cannot be inferred that there is anything like a designer behind it. Thirdly, the very activity of positing a divine designer can lead to an infinite regress, for if a designer—viz. God—designed this world, then who designed God, and so on. Lastly, the universe shows as much evidence of disorder as order, so to seek a cause of the order when such order only partially represents what the universe is like is questionable. Since the time of Hume, supporters of the design argument have attempted to argue against his points with varying success. In recent times, this debate has made frequent appeal to new discoveries in biology and theoretical physics.

III

Philosophical Theology

Philosophical theology is devoted to the exploration of God and of the claims made about God in the various theological traditions. Its range of topics typically includes what are known as the divine attributes. Philosophical theology is also concerned with questions and issues that centre on God's nature and God's relation to the world.

Historically speaking, the divine attributes have been defined thus: existence, simplicity, omnipotence, omniscience, and perfect goodness. Existence has been discussed above. When Jewish, Islamic, and Christian theologians and philosophers said that God is “simple” they meant by this that certain things that are true of human beings, animals, and other living things are not true of God. In this sense, divine simplicity can be distilled into the following claims: God is unchangeable; God is not an individual; and God is not created. The claim that God is omnipotent is to say that God can do anything; namely, that God possesses every possible power and ability. Related to this is the claim that God is omniscient. This means that God can know everything that has happened, will happen, and is about to happen. God has infallible knowledge of all past, present, and future events. The last of the divine attributes is the claim that God is morally perfect and is the personification or very object of goodness itself.

Two central problems surround discussion of the divine attributes. The first concerns the coherence of individual attributes. Thus, for example, if God is omnipotent, can God create a stone that is too heavy for him to lift? The second problem concerns what is known as the “compossibility” of the divine attributes, that is, whether or not it is logically coherent to say that God possesses all the attributes at any one time. For example, if God can know everything, do everything, and is goodness personified, it is asked why he does not actively intervene in order to prevent evil from coming about in the world. This is what is known as the “problem of evil”, something that raises a host of difficult issues when trying to reconcile all the attributes of God's nature.

Another issue which concerns God's relation to the natural world is that of miracles. A traditional claim of monotheistic religions is that God can intervene in the affairs of the world. A miracle is an event that goes against the perceived or expected laws of nature, say, in turning water into wine. The philosophical questions that stem from the claim that miracles occur are many: for example, what is a miracle, what is it supposed to prove, and by what means is it to be known?

IV

Religious Epistemology

Religious epistemology is concerned with the justification of the belief that God exists. Traditionally, philosophers have argued that the belief that God exists has to be justified in a particular way because it is what is known as a non-basic belief. A basic belief, on the other hand, is a belief that is not dependent upon another belief for its truth. Thus, any belief that is self-evident, incorrigible, derived from the senses, or based on memory is classed as a basic belief. The belief that God exists appears not to fit into any of the above categories, and needs to be justified by external evidence in order for it to be judged true or false. Throughout history, many philosophers have therefore attempted to justify the belief that God exists by marshalling evidence that attempts to make the belief credible.

In more recent times, many philosophers have argued that the above approach is incorrect: that is, that the belief that God exists can be a basic belief and therefore requires no external justification. Further to this, some philosophers have argued that belief in a god can be justified on the basis of certain facts about religious experience. These two new approaches to the issues of religious epistemology have done much to stimulate recent interest in the philosophy of religion.

Another topic that receives attention as part of the philosophy of religion is the issue of religious language, which is concerned with the assessment of the meaning and coherence of theological terms. A further prominent issue in contemporary study is the subject of religious pluralism. This derives in part from an intellectual response to the widespread phenomenon of religious diversity and is concerned with assessing the claims of a particular religious tradition to embody the complete truth. Encompassing topics such as these alongside its traditional subjects, the philosophy of religion takes its place within Western philosophy not just in the domain of the history of philosophy but also in having much to offer in terms of more specialized philosophical speculation. See also Philosophy, Indian; Philosophy, Islamic; Philosophy, Western.