A Philosophy of Faith: Belief, Truth and Varieties of Commitment (Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Religion)

Faith occupies an important place in human lives. It can be directed towards God, friends, political systems and sports teams, and is said to help people through crises and to motivate people to achieve life goals. But what is faith? Philosophers and theologians have, for centuries, been concerned with questions about the rationality of faith, but more recently, have focussed on what kind of psychological attitude faith is. The authors of this book bring together, for the first time, the different elements of this recent debate, staking out the different positions and arguments, and defending a novel ‘true grit’ theory of faith, from which the rationality and language of faith are addressed from a fresh perspective. The book engages with a range of questions about the nature of faith, including: Does faith require belief? Is faith motivational? What is the relationship between faith, trust and hope? Do expressions of faith aim at the truth? And, in what sense is faith resilient? The authors defend a distinctive conception of faith involving resistance to psychological, practical and epistemic challenges, from which a novel account of the psychology and epistemology of faith is developed. The treatment of the topic draws extensively on the philosophy of mind, language and religion, and provides a map of this exciting field of study for newcomers to the philosophy of faith. __A Philosophy of Faith__ will appeal to researchers and advanced students in philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language and epistemology who are interested in the topic of faith. Faith occupies an important place in human lives. It can be directed towards God, friends, political systems and sports teams, and is said to help people through crises and to motivate people to achieve life goals. But what is faith? Philosophers and theologians have, for centuries, been concerned with questions about the rationality of faith, but more recently, have focussed on what kind of psychological attitude faith is. The authors of this book bring together, for the first time, the different elements of this recent debate, staking out the different positions and arguments, and defending a novel ‘true grit’ theory of faith, from which the rationality and language of faith are addressed from a fresh perspective. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 Acknowledgements 9 Introduction 10 What Is Faith? 10 Approaches to the Study of Faith 12 Religious Faith 13 Epistemology 13 Language 14 Matters of Agreement, Disagreement, and the True Grit Theory of Faith 15 Chapter Overviews 20 1. Propositional Faith 26 1.1 Propositional Faith: Doxasticism vs. Nondoxasticism 29 1.2 Acceptance and Belief 31 1.3 The Transparency Condition 38 1.4 Doxasticism and Nondoxasticism: What Is at Issue? 40 1.5 Conclusion 44 2. Against Nondoxasticism 50 2.1 Faith Is not Truth-Valued 50 2.2 The Argument from Doubt 52 2.2.1 The Standard Argument from Doubt 52 2.2.2 Doubt and Belief: It’s a Matter of Degree 57 2.2.3 Doubt and Belief: Single-Minded Doubt 58 2.2.4 Faith Exemplars 60 2.3 Arguments from Language: Mental State Attributions 62 2.4 Pragmatic Arguments 69 2.5 Conclusion 73 3. True Grit and the Case for Doxasticism 77 3.1 The Problem of Sincere Endorsement 78 3.1.1 Norms, Faith and Bullshit 81 3.1.2 Respectable Bullshitting 85 3.1.3 Fictionalism 88 3.1.4 Summary 92 3.2 True Grit and Doxasticism 92 3.2.1 True Grit and Propositional Faith 92 3.2.2 True Grit, Acceptance and Belief 99 3.3 Conclusion 102 4. Objectual Faith 106 4.1 Preliminaries: the Structure and Content of Objectual Faith 108 4.2 The Cognitive Requirements of Objectual Faith 113 4.3 Reduction and Priority 121 4.4 Objectual Faith, Trust and True Grit 126 4.4.1 Objectual Faith as Trust 127 4.4.2 Objectual Faith without Trust 131 4.5 Conclusion 134 5. Faith, Motivation and Plans 138 5.1 Faith, Alignment and Plans 138 5.2 The Practical and Non-Cognitive Conditions on Faith 141 5.3 Varieties of Positivity Theory 147 5.4 Positivity Theory: for and against (Mostly against) 149 5.5 Alternative Non-Cognitive Accounts 153 5.5.1 Faith, Caring and Disappointment 153 5.5.2 Positivity and True Grit 154 5.6 Conclusion 156 6. The Epistemic Status and Scope of Faith 159 6.1 Three Questions: Status, Psychology and Scope 159 6.2 The Scope of Faith 160 6.2.1 Theories of Scope 160 6.2.2 The Revisability Theory of Scope 164 6.3 The Status of Faith 166 6.3.1 Epistemic Virtue and Vice 167 6.3.1 Intellectually Virtuous Epistemic Resilience: Stability and Perseverant Grit 170 6.3.2 Faith and Intellectual Firmness 174 6.4 Conclusion 176 Index 181 Introduction; 1 Propositional Faith; 2 Against Nondoxasticism; 3 True Grit and the Case for Doxasticism; 4 Objectual Faith; "5 Faith,Motivation and Plans"; 6 The Epistemic Status and Scope of Faith Introduction,1 Propositional Faith,2 Against Nondoxasticism,3 True Grit and the Case for Doxasticism,4 Objectual Faith,5 Faith, Motivation and Plans,6 The Epistemic Status and Scope of Faith "Faith occupies an important place in human lives. It can be directed towards God, friends, political systems and sports teams, and is said to help people through crises and to motivate people to achieve life goals. But what is faith? Philosophers and theologians have, for centuries, been concerned with questions about the rationality of faith, but more recently, have focused on what kind of psychological attitude faith is. The authors of this book bring together, for the first time, the different elements of this recent debate, staking out the different positions and arguments, and defending a novel 'true grit' theory of faith, from which the rationality and language of faith are addressed from a fresh perspective. The book engages with a range of questions about the nature of faith, including: Does faith require belief? Is faith motivational? What is the relationship between faith, trust and hope? Do expressions of faith aim at the truth? And, in what sense is faith resilient? The authors defend a distinctive conception of faith involving resistance to psychological, practical and epistemic challenges, from which a novel account of the psychology and epistemology of faith is developed. The treatment of the topic draws extensively on the philosophy of mind, language, and religion, and provides a map for newcomers to the philosophy of faith to this exciting field of study. A Philosophy of Faith will appeal to researchers and advanced students in philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language and epistemology who are interested in the topic of faith"-- Provided by publisher.