Philosophy and Religion
Philosophical approaches are useful in the analysis of religious beliefs. Religion is a broad subject that relates humanity with supernatural and spiritual elements. Philosophy is broadly classified into Western philosophy and Eastern philosophy. Occidental philosophy, which also referred as the Western philosophy is the philosophical thinking of the Western world. In recent years, Western philosophy has greatly been influenced by religion. A clear distinction exists between Western philosophy and Eastern philosophy. The Western philosophers tend to find and prove the truth, while the Eastern philosophers tend to accept the fact without proofing. Philosophy interacts with religion in religious language, ultimate reality, arguments against and for the existence of God, and religious diversity.
The Western philosophy of religion examines the religious themes across the world. The religious themes analyzed by western philosophy includes religious diversity, arguments for the existence of God, religious language, and ultimate reality. Western philosophy has been influenced by the Jewish religion, Islamic religion, and the Christian religion (Kenny, 2018). Similarly, all these religions have been influenced by Western philosophy; therefore, philosophy influences religion and vice-versa. Western philosophers put more emphasis on individual rights, unlike the Eastern philosophers, who put more effort into social responsibility. The philosophy of religion also plays a crucial role in examining the alternative worldviews of religion. The worldviews of most of the citizens in the world are influenced by religion. Some religious outgroups violate the fundamental principles of religion, contributing to alternative religion worldviews. The alternative worldviews result in religious prejudice, and these worldviews are analyzed and influenced by Western philosophy. Secular naturalism is an example of alternative religious worldviews. Secular naturalism is a philosophy that depends on human reasoning while going against popular religious supernaturalism. Secular naturalism states that human beings can lead a moral and ethical life without necessarily adhering to spiritual practices and beliefs. Philosophical work is greatly influenced by religion.
Religious language, which is commonly known as religious belief, is vague and imprecise. Many Western philosophers have rejected the religious language by the claims that it is meaningless (Ray, 2017). Western philosopher relies on empirical and mathematical approaches to proof the truth of any matter. The religious language is non-verifiable according to the Western philosophers. The religious statements made by religious leaders and also the statements by God cannot be verified by empirical or mathematical approach. Logical positivism is a philosophy by the Western philosophers that considers meaningful tautologies as the ones that have mathematical, logical, or practical inferences. Some religious statements are, “Yahweh is compassionate” or Atman is Brahman.” The logical positivists consider these statements as meaningless because they lack logical and empirical inferences. The religion is explained and passed from one generation to another by the use of analogy and mythical approaches. The religious leaders rely on obscure facts to explain their followers on the existence of God. The logical positivists claim that religious leaders cannot prove that God exists using the objects at their disposal. Divine simplicity is a common doctrine in religious practices. The doctrine describes God as perfect. The philosophy of logical positivism terms the doctrine of divine simplicity as meaningless because it lacks reasonable proof. The philosophy of realism and non-realism succeeded the philosophy of logical positivism.
Realism and non-realism are two Western philosophies that describe religion. Religious realists are loyal to the religious language. Religious realists believe in the religion based on what exists regardless of those who are holding the beliefs (Appelros, 2017). Realists use the realism philosophy to explain their position about religious language. Existence is a major claim used by realists. Moon, sun, animals, and rocks exist. Through the principle of existence, realists use these existing objects to explain that God exists. Realists claim that the moon, rock, sun, and so forth exist through the supernatural power of God. The existence of the objects supports the existence of supernatural powers, which makes the realists to belief in the religious language. Also, the realists apply the principle of independence of macroscopic objects in their explanation of religious language. Realists argue that the moon is spherical, and the spherical shape is independent of anything else. Realists further argue that, in the case of a square table, the square shape depends on the designer of the table. Therefore, independent macroscopic objects predict the existence of God according to the realists. On the other hand, non-realists belief that religious language does not depend on realities. As per the non-realists, religious language is constructed from human experience and behavior. Historically, theism has formed the basis of all the Western philosophical religious work.
Recently, Western philosophy has resulted in religious diversity. In the last couple of years, religious themes have gone beyond the scope of theism (Richter, 2017). Therefore, Western philosophy has revolutionized the religious beliefs and practices. Western philosophy has had a significant contribution in Daoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism religious literature. The interaction of the Western philosophers and other religious philosophers have played a key role in religious diversity. The different religious traditions outside the theism scope created by the interaction of philosophers interact with one another. For instance, Buddhism conflict with the Muslim religion. According to Muslims, the world was created by a supernatural being, God, Allah. Contrary, the Buddhists do not believe in the existence of God. Christians believe in theistic dualism, where they consider God a supernatural and more powerful as compared to human beings and all the other creatures in the earth. According to Christians and Muslims, salvation is the ultimate goal. On the other hand, the ultimate goal of Buddhists is the total extinction of all human suffering. Therefore, western philosophy has resulted in various religious traditions.
The philosophy of religious pluralism responds to the conflicts witnessed in different religious traditions. A person’s religious experience depends on how the person interprets and comprehends the frameworks of religion (Eddy, 2018). Some people consider the ultimate reality as personal, while other religious believers consider ultimate reality as non-personal. The theistic ways comprehend the ultimate reality as personal while the pantheistic categories understand ultimate reality as non-personal. By human experience, it’s therefore difficult to use the human experience to determine whether the ultimate reality is personal or non-personal. Pluralists use the parable of the elephant and the blind men to illustrate how different people experience God. In the parable, the elephant is used to symbolize God, who is surrounded by several blind men. One man held the elephant’s trunk and believed to be holding a snake. Another man felt the elephant’s tail and believed to be holding a rope. Finally, another man felt the elephant’s leg and believed to be holding a tree. From the parable, the different blind men had different experiences from the same elephant. The pluralists thus argue that different religious believers have a different understanding of the ultimate reality depending on their concepts and their experiences towards God. The pluralism philosophy classifies ultimate reality as beyond human’s scope of understanding that can be experienced through different spiritual and traditional practices. The philosophy of pluralism, therefore, qualifies all the religious traditions to be valid, hence responding to the conflicts that arise from different religious traditions. Religious relativism philosophy also tends to solve the conflicts that arise from various religious traditions (Strandberg, 2016). The philosophy of religious relativism requires believers of a specific religious group to adhere to the truth and practices of that specific religious tradition. The degree of adherence to the practices of particular religious traditions determines how an individual experiences ultimate reality. The philosophy of religious relativism solves the religious conflicts more comprehensively as compared to the philosophy of pluralism.
In conclusion, philosophy relates humanity with supernatural elements and influences philosophy. Western philosophies are essential in analyzing various religious beliefs. Western philosophy has had a significant influence on religion in recent years. The Western philosophers find and prove the truth, while the eastern philosophers accept the truth as presented. Religious language, religious diversity, arguments for or against the existence of God, ultimate reality, and religious language are common areas of religion where philosophy interacts with religion. Many Western philosophers qualify the religious language to be meaningless because it lacks logical proof. Also, the philosophy of logical positivism disagrees with the existence of God due to a lack of logical evidence of God’s existence. The interaction of different Western philosophies has resulted in different religious traditions that are outside the scope of theism. The philosophies of pluralism and relativism respond to conflicts that arise from religious diversity.
References
Appelros, E. (2017). God in the act of reference: debating religious realism and non-realism. Routledge.
Eddy, P. R. (2018). John Hick’s Pluralist Philosophy of World Religions. Routledge.
Kenny, A. (2018). An Illustrated Brief History of Western Philosophy. John Wiley & Sons.
Ray, C. (2017). Logical positivism. A companion to the philosophy of science, 243-251.
Richter, T. (2017). Coping with Religious Diversity in Everyday Life in the Borderlands of Western Europe: Catholics, Protestants and Jews in Vaals. Acta Poloniae Historica, (116), 149-169.
Strandberg, H. (2016). The Possibility of Discussion: Relativism, Truth and Criticism of Religious Beliefs. Routledge.