This book responds to the currently unclear situation in the philosophy of religion by developing a version of pragmatic pluralism. This position is developed through a critical articulation and defense of pragmatist philosophy of religion, largely based on William James’s and John Dewey’s ideas. The historical background of pragmatism in Kantian transcendental philosophy as well as more recent neopragmatist developments in the philosophy of religion (e.g., Richard Rorty, Hilary Putnam) are also taken into account. The book thus seeks to move beyond the mainstream debates on theism and its sta ... More

This book responds to the currently unclear situation in the philosophy of religion by developing a version of pragmatic pluralism. This position is developed through a critical articulation and defense of pragmatist philosophy of religion, largely based on William James’s and John Dewey’s ideas. The historical background of pragmatism in Kantian transcendental philosophy as well as more recent neopragmatist developments in the philosophy of religion (e.g., Richard Rorty, Hilary Putnam) are also taken into account. The book thus seeks to move beyond the mainstream debates on theism and its standard alternatives by understanding religion as, primarily, a set of human practices with their distinctive goals and interests different from those operative in other practices. In addition to thus critically transforming the available accounts of religious belief and religious language, special problems in contemporary philosophy of religion, such as the problem of evil, are also discussed from a pragmatist and pluralist perspective. In particular, it is argued that pragmatism should avoid any attempts to justify, or explain away, evil in terms of a “theodicy”. More generally, it is suggested that an adequate pragmatist philosophy of religion must remain antireductionistic – seeking to incorporate a plurality of perspectives on religion – and ought to view the ethical and metaphysical dimensions of the philosophy of religion as inextricably entangled.