Evolving epistemology: a reconsideration of evolutionary debunking arguments against religion
<p>The science of religion is an ever-expanding field, with major ramifications for religious belief and interactions between theology and biology. My thesis investigates the most intriguing philosophical controversies springing from scientific study of religion- Evolutionary Debunking Argumen...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2021
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| _version_ | 1826316610420342784 |
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| author | Bennett, C |
| author2 | McGrath, A |
| author_facet | McGrath, A Bennett, C |
| author_sort | Bennett, C |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>The science of religion is an ever-expanding field, with major ramifications for religious belief and interactions between theology and biology. My thesis investigates the most intriguing philosophical controversies springing from scientific study of religion- Evolutionary Debunking Arguments (henceforth EDAs) and the justification of religious belief. Beginning with an assessment of current naturalistic explanations of religion, before addressing Aetiological arguments that use explanations to debunk, I demonstrate that merely explaining religious behaviour does not affect religion’s rationality. Although the subtler Faculties EDAs show initial promise by drawing an epistemic link between the evolution of religion and the faculties used to form religious beliefs, the link is philosophically unsustainable. This leads me to conclude that the science of religion does not debunk religious beliefs. Nonetheless, I retrieve philosophical insight from my investigation into the origins of religious beliefs, using it to evolve epistemology. I postulate a novel argument for the position that although religious beliefs are not debunked by their evolutionary history, they are made impossible to justify, because humans cannot know whether selective forces that influenced our capacities gave us the ability to discern religious truth. Hence, a proper consideration of humanity’s evolutionary past ought to lead to the conclusion that religious and other metaphysical beliefs are unjustifiable, due to cognitive constraints. I examine the justification of religious beliefs to defend this proposal from counters, before evaluating the impact and consequences of evolutionary agnosticism across theology and philosophy. Original facets of my thesis include my categorisation of various EDAs against religion, which illuminates common faults, as well as a new synthetic understanding of natural histories of religion. Moreover, I offer innovative critiques of discourse surrounding EDAs, and provide a more productive direction for debate on the evolved nature of religious belief, by offering my argument for evolutionary agnosticism.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T21:55:10Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:4cab48b0-5bfa-48f4-beea-060e66ac2a5f |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-09T03:48:07Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:4cab48b0-5bfa-48f4-beea-060e66ac2a5f2024-12-08T11:01:47ZEvolving epistemology: a reconsideration of evolutionary debunking arguments against religionThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:4cab48b0-5bfa-48f4-beea-060e66ac2a5fPhilosophyTheologyEnglishHyrax Deposit2021Bennett, CMcGrath, A<p>The science of religion is an ever-expanding field, with major ramifications for religious belief and interactions between theology and biology. My thesis investigates the most intriguing philosophical controversies springing from scientific study of religion- Evolutionary Debunking Arguments (henceforth EDAs) and the justification of religious belief. Beginning with an assessment of current naturalistic explanations of religion, before addressing Aetiological arguments that use explanations to debunk, I demonstrate that merely explaining religious behaviour does not affect religion’s rationality. Although the subtler Faculties EDAs show initial promise by drawing an epistemic link between the evolution of religion and the faculties used to form religious beliefs, the link is philosophically unsustainable. This leads me to conclude that the science of religion does not debunk religious beliefs. Nonetheless, I retrieve philosophical insight from my investigation into the origins of religious beliefs, using it to evolve epistemology. I postulate a novel argument for the position that although religious beliefs are not debunked by their evolutionary history, they are made impossible to justify, because humans cannot know whether selective forces that influenced our capacities gave us the ability to discern religious truth. Hence, a proper consideration of humanity’s evolutionary past ought to lead to the conclusion that religious and other metaphysical beliefs are unjustifiable, due to cognitive constraints. I examine the justification of religious beliefs to defend this proposal from counters, before evaluating the impact and consequences of evolutionary agnosticism across theology and philosophy. Original facets of my thesis include my categorisation of various EDAs against religion, which illuminates common faults, as well as a new synthetic understanding of natural histories of religion. Moreover, I offer innovative critiques of discourse surrounding EDAs, and provide a more productive direction for debate on the evolved nature of religious belief, by offering my argument for evolutionary agnosticism.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Philosophy Theology Bennett, C Evolving epistemology: a reconsideration of evolutionary debunking arguments against religion |
| title | Evolving epistemology: a reconsideration of evolutionary debunking arguments against religion |
| title_full | Evolving epistemology: a reconsideration of evolutionary debunking arguments against religion |
| title_fullStr | Evolving epistemology: a reconsideration of evolutionary debunking arguments against religion |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evolving epistemology: a reconsideration of evolutionary debunking arguments against religion |
| title_short | Evolving epistemology: a reconsideration of evolutionary debunking arguments against religion |
| title_sort | evolving epistemology a reconsideration of evolutionary debunking arguments against religion |
| topic | Philosophy Theology |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bennettc evolvingepistemologyareconsiderationofevolutionarydebunkingargumentsagainstreligion |