Situated Religious Cognition in Jamesian Pragmatist Philosophy of Religion
Religions July 26, 2024 DOI: 10.3390/rel15070815 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Situationality Pragmatism Religious experience William james Belief Hope |
| Key points | Argues that William James's pragmatism provides a distinctive account of situated religious cognition, with belief and hope as situation-dependent concepts, relevant to current debates. |
Abstract
Pragmatist philosophy of religion has, since the early days of the tradition, developed distinctive accounts of (what we now call) “situated” religious cognition highly relevant to currently ongoing discussions in this developing field. This paper focuses on William James’s pragmatism as an important example of such an approach in the philosophy of religion. Some central “situational” themes in James are identified, and special attention is given to the relation between the (situation-dependent) concepts of belief and hope in Jamesian pragmatism. The ontological status of the “objects” of situated religious cognition is thereby also briefly discussed.