Pragmatist Perspectives on Theological and Religious Realism

This essay first applies the general issue of realism vs. antirealism to theology and the philosophy of religion, distinguishing between several different ”levels’ of the realism dispute in this context. A pragmatic approach to the problem of realism regarding religion and theology is sketched and tentatively defended. The similarities and differences of scientific realism, on the one hand, and religious and/or theological realism, on the other hand, are thereby also illuminated. The concept of recognition is shown to be crucially relevant to the issue of realism especially in its pragmatist articulation

Does Emergence Help in Defending Religious Belief?

The concept of emergence has gained some popularity\ud in the philosophy of mind and in metaphysico-epistemological\ud explorations of our current scientific worldview. This\ud concept is used to indicate that the �higher� levels of reality\ud (e.g., mentality, normativity) cannot be reduced to the\ud �lower� ones (particularly the physical or physico-chemical\ud level, as studied by physics and other natural sciences).\ud Emergent properties are properties of a complex system\ud that cannot be deduced from (what is known about) the\ud properties of the parts of the system. Roughly, the idea is\ud to save such things as mentality (consciousness),\ud normativity, and cultural entities from the threatening\ud reduction or elimination dreamed of by more extreme\ud physicalists

Preliminary results from the COLA N sample

We present preliminary radio imaging results for the northern COLA (Compact Objects in Low power AGN) sample. COLA is a large sample of moderate luminosity 10 ≤ log(L_(FIR)/L_☉) ≤ 12 infra-red selected galaxies. Our primary aim is to investigate possible connections between starburst activity and AGN. The sample has been observed in a variety of wavebands searching for correlations between AGN presence, galactic structure, gas content or degree of interaction. VLA A-array observations of half of the Northern sample are presented. From this data we find, consistent with previous studies, an anti-correlation between FIR luminosity and radio size. Unexpectedly we find that amongst sources which lie slightly above the radio-IR correlation, the excess radio emission is mostly in large scale structure (≥ 1kpc). Studies of the southern COLA sample suggest a strong correlation between having a radio excess and the presence of a compact AGN core, even though the core itself only accounts for small fraction of the excess. We speculate that either the bulk of AGN radio emission is on unexpectedly large scales or that AGN presence is correlated with old starbursts; a result consistent with proposed evolutionary models

Kantian Transcendental Pessimism and Jamesian Empirical Meliorism

Kant’s philosophy was an important background for the pragmatist tradition, even though some of the major classical pragmatists, especially William James, were unwilling to acknowledge their debt to Kant. This essay considers the relation between Kant and James from the perspective of their conceptions of the human condition. In particular, I examine their shared pessimism, employing Vanden Auweele’s (2019) recent analysis of Kant’s pessimism and arguing that this is required by James’s meliorism (which is put forward as a middle-ground option between optimism and pessimism). A comparative inquiry into Kant’s and James’s views on the relation between ethics and religion is provided against this background of their shared philosophical anthropology.Peer reviewe

Pragmatic Realism, Religious Truth, and Antitheodicy : On Viewing the World by Acknowledging the Other

Peer reviewe

Pragmatism and the Phenomenology of Suffering : Remarks on Antitheodicy, Detachment, and Embodied Subjectivity

Peer reviewe