EXC 2060 C3-4 - Noncognitivism in the Philosophy of Religion

Keywords
Noncognitivism; Religion
Period
Status
Finished
Funding Source
DFG - Cluster of Excellence
Project Number
EXC 2060/1
Type of Funding
Subproject in DFG-Joint Project Hosted at the University of Münster
Description
Non-cognitivism stands for the thesis that one should view the relevant entities as neither apt for truth nor for justification. In this project the different concepts of non-cognitivism, developed in philosophical meta-ethics, will be drawn upon to analyse religious episodes (i.e. expressions, attitudes or experiences). In doing so a type of religious criticism will be developed that is grounded in philosophy of language, which on the one hand has consequences from the standpoint of philosophy of science regarding the possibilities and boundaries that a scientific understanding of religion has. One can, on the other hand, in this way, gather information on societal debate concerning religion or on how religiously motivated normative discussions are argumentatively structured. Beside the thesis that religious episodes ought to be non-cognitivisticly understood it will be argued, secondly, that their primary function lies in constituting the practical identity of human persons in the shape of existential value attitudes. As such these fundamental value orientations are constitutive for the respective personalities of these people. In them, thirdly, the basic human experience of finiteness is expressed. This finiteness shows itself in the limitations (of theoretical and practical abilities) and in the neediness or vulnerability of their corporal existence. It is also fundamental to the human condition to know of this temporal limitation. Religious practices are to be understood, such the fourth of this project's evidence goals, as institutional forms, with the help of which humans can cooperatively, on the basis of their genuinely social nature (as acting beings), realise their being persons.
Persons

  • Dissertations

    Anna Blundell, M.A.

     

    Doctoral AbstractThesis

    Voices of Faith. A Non-Cognitive Approach to Understanding Religious Utterances and Their Role in Persons’ Lives

    Supervisor
    Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Michael Quante
    Doctoral Subject
    Philosophie
    Targeted Doctoral Degree
    Dr. phil.
    Awarded by
    Department 08 – History/Philosophy
    In my project “The Meaning of Existential Commitments for Personal Identity”, I pursue the analysis of religious expressions by analyzing religious speech acts for the purpose of a clarification of what type of speech acts such religious ‘expressions’ pose and what the speakers are claiming and whether such expressions are even truth apt. Such a clarification can serve to make visible what happens in religious contexts and what speakers may be claiming about the world around them and, especially interestingly, about themselves.