Religious hinge commitments: Developing Wittgensteinian quasi-fideism
Abstract
The main goal of this paper is to develop further a quasi-fideistic Wittgensteinian view on the nature of religious beliefs proposed by Duncan Pritchard (Pritchard, 2000; Pritchard, 2012a; Pritchard, 2012b; Pritchard, 2015; Pritchard forthcoming). According to Pritchard, Wittgenstein's thoughts on religion may be connected with the epistemological perspective developed in his final notebooks On Certainty (Wittgenstein, 1969), where Wittgenstein argues that our empirical beliefs rest upon grounds (i.e., hinge commitments) that cannot be rationally defended, but that we nonetheless find certain. Pritchard proposes that the idea of hinge commitments may be extended to religious beliefs as well, and argues that if this is done, religious beliefs may turn out to be no less defensible than our nonreligious, empirical beliefs. Pritchard provides a preliminary analysis of the kinds of hinge commitments as well as of their characteristics. In this paper our main concern is to engage in further ...analysis of these commitments. Such analysis seems to be necessary if we are to grasp the way faith relates to the rest of human knowledge. Moreover, we suggest that the best way to approach this task is by asking how we acquire basic hinge commitments. In order to answer this question we need to consult not only philosophers but also developmental and social psychologists, and see how children acquire knowledge of religious as well as nonreligious beliefs.
Source:
Belgrade Philosophical Annual, 2017, 30, 235-256Publisher:
- Univerzitet u Beogradu - Filozofski fakultet - Institut za filozofiju, Beograd
Funding / projects:
Institution/Community
Filozofija / PhilosophyTY - JOUR AU - Radenović, Ljiljana AU - Kostić, Slaviša PY - 2017 UR - http://reff.f.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/2288 AB - The main goal of this paper is to develop further a quasi-fideistic Wittgensteinian view on the nature of religious beliefs proposed by Duncan Pritchard (Pritchard, 2000; Pritchard, 2012a; Pritchard, 2012b; Pritchard, 2015; Pritchard forthcoming). According to Pritchard, Wittgenstein's thoughts on religion may be connected with the epistemological perspective developed in his final notebooks On Certainty (Wittgenstein, 1969), where Wittgenstein argues that our empirical beliefs rest upon grounds (i.e., hinge commitments) that cannot be rationally defended, but that we nonetheless find certain. Pritchard proposes that the idea of hinge commitments may be extended to religious beliefs as well, and argues that if this is done, religious beliefs may turn out to be no less defensible than our nonreligious, empirical beliefs. Pritchard provides a preliminary analysis of the kinds of hinge commitments as well as of their characteristics. In this paper our main concern is to engage in further analysis of these commitments. Such analysis seems to be necessary if we are to grasp the way faith relates to the rest of human knowledge. Moreover, we suggest that the best way to approach this task is by asking how we acquire basic hinge commitments. In order to answer this question we need to consult not only philosophers but also developmental and social psychologists, and see how children acquire knowledge of religious as well as nonreligious beliefs. PB - Univerzitet u Beogradu - Filozofski fakultet - Institut za filozofiju, Beograd T2 - Belgrade Philosophical Annual T1 - Religious hinge commitments: Developing Wittgensteinian quasi-fideism EP - 256 IS - 30 SP - 235 DO - 10.5937/BPA1730235R ER -
@article{ author = "Radenović, Ljiljana and Kostić, Slaviša", year = "2017", abstract = "The main goal of this paper is to develop further a quasi-fideistic Wittgensteinian view on the nature of religious beliefs proposed by Duncan Pritchard (Pritchard, 2000; Pritchard, 2012a; Pritchard, 2012b; Pritchard, 2015; Pritchard forthcoming). According to Pritchard, Wittgenstein's thoughts on religion may be connected with the epistemological perspective developed in his final notebooks On Certainty (Wittgenstein, 1969), where Wittgenstein argues that our empirical beliefs rest upon grounds (i.e., hinge commitments) that cannot be rationally defended, but that we nonetheless find certain. Pritchard proposes that the idea of hinge commitments may be extended to religious beliefs as well, and argues that if this is done, religious beliefs may turn out to be no less defensible than our nonreligious, empirical beliefs. Pritchard provides a preliminary analysis of the kinds of hinge commitments as well as of their characteristics. In this paper our main concern is to engage in further analysis of these commitments. Such analysis seems to be necessary if we are to grasp the way faith relates to the rest of human knowledge. Moreover, we suggest that the best way to approach this task is by asking how we acquire basic hinge commitments. In order to answer this question we need to consult not only philosophers but also developmental and social psychologists, and see how children acquire knowledge of religious as well as nonreligious beliefs.", publisher = "Univerzitet u Beogradu - Filozofski fakultet - Institut za filozofiju, Beograd", journal = "Belgrade Philosophical Annual", title = "Religious hinge commitments: Developing Wittgensteinian quasi-fideism", pages = "256-235", number = "30", doi = "10.5937/BPA1730235R" }
Radenović, L.,& Kostić, S.. (2017). Religious hinge commitments: Developing Wittgensteinian quasi-fideism. in Belgrade Philosophical Annual Univerzitet u Beogradu - Filozofski fakultet - Institut za filozofiju, Beograd.(30), 235-256. https://doi.org/10.5937/BPA1730235R
Radenović L, Kostić S. Religious hinge commitments: Developing Wittgensteinian quasi-fideism. in Belgrade Philosophical Annual. 2017;(30):235-256. doi:10.5937/BPA1730235R .
Radenović, Ljiljana, Kostić, Slaviša, "Religious hinge commitments: Developing Wittgensteinian quasi-fideism" in Belgrade Philosophical Annual, no. 30 (2017):235-256, https://doi.org/10.5937/BPA1730235R . .