The Semantic Basis for Religious Pluralism -Propositional Attitudes as Declaration of Faith- Cover Image

Dinî Çoğulculuğun Semantik Temelleri -İnanç Deklarasyonu Olarak Önermesel Tutumlar-
The Semantic Basis for Religious Pluralism -Propositional Attitudes as Declaration of Faith-

Author(s): Okan Bağcı
Subject(s): Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Language
Published by: Karadeniz Teknik Üniversites - İlahiyat Fakültesi
Keywords: Philosophy of Religion; Philosophy of Language; Religious Pluralism; Propositional Attitudes; Reference;

Summary/Abstract: It is possible to talk about three basic attitudes that different religions, which claim to represent the truth, can adopt towards each other when they come across: religious exclusivism, religious inclusivism and religious pluralism. Religious pluralism, in short, is based on the assumption that all religions are equal in representing the truth. The most important obstacles to defending religious pluralism can be listed as different conceptions of God, revelation and prophecy. It can be said that at least some of these barriers are related to the reference problem in the language because inaccurate inferences to be made about the references of expressions that are not evaluated in their context will not only create insurmountable obstacles to religious pluralism, but also create a basis for religious exclusivism. We can easily state that the problem of reference becomes more evident especially when it comes to propositional attitudes that emerge when a proposition is used as the object of a verb such as "believe". In this study, firstly, the religious pluralism approach is discussed in outline, then the use of propositional attitudes as a declaration of belief is examined. Finally, it is evaluated whether the reference problem in propositional attitudes contributes to the effort to remove the reference-based barriers to religious pluralism. Thus, the possibility of propositional attitudes and the related problem of reference to constitute a semantic basis for religious pluralism has been examined. In our study, it has been concluded that such a possibility exists and this situation has been tried to be grounded.

  • Issue Year: 9/2022
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 380-398
  • Page Count: 19
  • Language: Turkish
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