-
1099Most Peers Don’t Believe It, Hence It Is Probably FalseEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Religion 9 (4): 87-112. 2017.Rob Lovering has recently argued that since theists have been unable, by means of philosophical arguments, to convince 85 percent of professional philosophers that God exists, at least one of their defining beliefs must be either false or meaningless. This paper is a critical examination of his argument. First we present Lovering’s argument and point out its salient features. Next we explain why the argument’s conclusion is entirely acceptable for theists, even if, as we show, there are multiple…Read more
-
99The Retreat ArgumentHeythrop Journal (3): 497-508. 2018.Some philosophers and scientists argue that as science progresses the religious domain shrinks ever more. They see the advance of science as an argument against religion and for naturalism. In what follows I construct the argument that is tacit in this line of reasoning and criticize it.
-
22J. A. Van Slyke, The Cognitive Science of Religion, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2011European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 8 (4): 231--233. 2016.
-
243What Cognitive Science of Religion Can Learn from John DeweyContemporary Pragmatism 15 (3): 387-406. 2018.Cognitive science of religion is a fairly young discipline with the aim of studying the cognitive basis of religious belief. Despite the great variation in theories a number of common features can be distilled and most theories can be situated in the cognitivist and modular paradigm. In this paper, I investigate how cognitive science of religion (CSR) can be made better by insights from John Dewey. I chose Dewey because he offered important insights in cognition long before there was cognitive s…Read more
-
1723Religious Cognition as Social CognitionStudia Religiologica 48 (4): 301-312. 2015.In this paper, I examine the relationship between social cognition and religious cognition. Many cognitive theories of religion claim that these two forms are somehow related, but the details are usually left unexplored and insights from theories of social cognition are not taken on board. I discuss the three main (groups of) theories of social cognition, namely the theory-theory, the simulation theory and enactivist theories. Secondly, I explore how these theories can help to enrich a number of…Read more
-
17Rob Lovering. God and Evidence. Bloomsbury, 2013European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 8 (1): 254--260. 2016.
-
132Two types of “explaining away” arguments in the cognitive science of religionZygon 51 (4): 966-982. 2016.This article discusses “explaining away” arguments in the cognitive science of religion. I distinguish two rather different ways of explaining away religion, one where religion is shown to be incompatible with scientific findings and one where supernatural entities are rendered superfluous by scientific explanations. After discussing possible objections to both varieties, I argue that the latter way offers better prospects for successfully explaining away religion but that some caveats must be m…Read more
-
124There Is No Sensus DivinitatisJournal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies 15 (45): 24-40. 2016.Inspired by Alvin Plantinga, many philosophers of religion accept the existence of a sensus divinitatis, a cognitive mechanism that produces religious beliefs. In this paper I will argue that there are no good reasons to accept the existence of a sensus divinitatis and hence its existence should not be affirmed. Plantinga gives two arguments for its existence, one empirical and one from the nature of God. I will argue that the first argument fails because God’s nature makes it more likely that h…Read more
Areas of Interest
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Religion |
Epistemology |