Invitation theory: explaining the argumentation for or against the religious beliefs

In the name of Allah

Invitation theory: explaining the argumentation for or against the religious beliefs

Reza AkbariImam Sadiq University

What does happen in religious epistemology?

1. A theist who involves in religious epistemology does something like these:• Trying to show that religious beliefs especially the existence of God have justifications

• Trying to show that religious beliefs especially the existence of God have warrant.

• Trying to show that believers are rational in their religious beliefs especially their belief in the existence of God.

What does happen in religious epistemology?

2. An atheist who involves in religious epistemology does something like these:• Trying to show that religious beliefs especially the existence of God have no justification

• Trying to show that religious beliefs especially the existence of God have no warrant.

• Trying to show that believers have no rationality in their religious beliefs especially their belief in the existence of God.

What are the theists and atheists’ approaches to religious beliefs?

1.Evidentialism: we should have evidence for our beliefs to be justified

there are at least two kinds of evidentialism• Approach that relies on probabilistic argumentation

o Recall Swinburne’s Bayesian approach to the existence of Godo Recall Martin’s Bayesian approach for denying the existence of God

• Approach that relies on deductive argumentationo Recall Avicenna and Aquinas’ approach to the existence of God (argument from

necessity and contingency-five ways)o Recall Mackie’s approach for denying the existence of God

What are the theists and atheists’ approaches to

religious beliefs?2. Fideism: we don’t need any argument to be justified in our religious belief there are at least two kinds of fideism:

• Any evidence especially historical is harmful for religious beliefs.oRecall Kierkegaard

• Any argument is irrelevant to religious beliefs.oRecall late Wittgenstein and wittgensteinian fideists such as D. Z. Phillips and Norman Malcolm

What are the theists and atheists’ approaches to

religious beliefs?3. Reformed epistemology: Although some arguments are good and useful, but believers don't need any argument for their religious beliefs.

o Recall Plantinga’s approach in his trilogy on warranted Christian beliefs and Motahhari’s theory about fitrah

Note that in contrast with this theistic approach, we can consider A. Flew’s approach to atheism in which the burden of proof is on theist’s claim that God exists.

What are the theists and atheists’ approaches to

religious beliefs?4. prudentialism: practical reasoning is a good instrument to have religious beliefs

o Recall Pascal’s wagero Recall James article against W. K. Clifford.

Why do theists and atheists take these approaches to religious beliefs?

• Think about these questions:1) Why does a theist or atheist give us arguments?2) Why does a theist or atheist write articles, books and

so on?3) Why does a theist or atheist participate in

conferences?4) Why does a theist or atheist give us a meta

justification to show that he doesn’t need any argument for his belief?

Trying to find an answer for this serious question

• finding a correct answer for this serious question requires us to notice these important truths1.Knowledge is an epistemic entity that has a close relation to our psychological and social life2. Our epistemic faculties grow in a social epistemic circumstances.3. When we are thinking about an object our feelings and emotions involve like our epistemic faculties. It seems that we choose the object of our thinking voluntarily. 4. By ‘voluntarily’ I don’t mean direct epistemic voluntarism but indirect epistemic voluntarism. Our form of life construct and develop our existence.

Trying to find an answer for this serious question

5.Using Mulla Sadra’s philosophical principles we can say that human being is the only existent who constructs his own existence including epistemic faculties, emotions, feelings and so on.6. According to simplicity of existence there is no distinct components in an existence. We are who abstract distinct notions when we confront epistemically with an existence. So epistemic faculties, emotions, feelings and so on are different notions which are abstracted from a single existence which we call human being

Offering an answer for this serious quastion

1.In any circumstances including religious beliefs man manifests his existence

2.Every human being has his own historical background which differs from others’. It shows that every human being has his distinct existence.

3.In any circumstances including religious beliefs there are many distinct manifestations of human beings (from 1 and 2)

4.Metaphorically every human being is like a fountain of light. The power, shape and content of the fountain determine the power and brightness of the light.

Offering an answer for this serious question

• Some people invite others to themselves. It could be said that they have epistemic egoism or better to say existential egoism. They make use of every instrument for their purpose including argument, good deeds, kindness in behavior toward others.

• Some people feel obliged to help others in achieving good life that contains in their perspective religious beliefs. This is a kind of moral-epistemic deontologism

Offering an answer for this serious question

• Some people think that their life get better if they help other to achieve good life. Here we are encountering moral-epistemic utilitarianism

• Some people are virtuous. They work hardly for the purpose of truth itself.

Offering an answer for this serious question

• But regardless of differences in these approach one thing is common between them: existential invitation

Thank you very much