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From reading these pages it strikes me that almost all philosophers in the Amherst group are not religious (Professor Heck is a notable exception). Is this true of philosophy departments in the English-speaking world, generally?

I suspect it is, and, if so, what are the ramifications? Do the religious types know they are right - surely a presupposition of their faiths - and do they consider it their role in philosophy to convert doubters? The 'it-works-for-me' anecdotal/testimonial religious argument is surely as worthless in philosophy as it is in, say, pseudosciences like homeopathy, however.

Shrugging one's shoulders because one has absolute certainty in one's religion surely doesn't pass muster if one is a professional philosopher whose job it is to explain one's philosophical worldview to one's students? Is the only recourse to be a proponent of Intelligent Design theory, which doesn't work? I can't see any way round this.

Your thoughts are very welcome and thanks in advance.

March 4, 2007

Response from Oliver Leaman on March 8, 2007

I don't know that philosophers as a group have any particular attitude to religion, just different attitudes. Believers may feel that they can justify their religious beliefs philosophically, and set out to do so. I doubt whether they try to convert students, though, and if they do it does not look like it has been very successful, but then students are pretty well innoculated against the things that their teachers tell them in any case. Many philosophers who are religious do not see their religious views as having anything to do with their philosophical views, since the former are based on faith and as such an entirely different ball game from their philosophical work.

I don't agree that it is the job of philosophers to explain their philosophical worldview to students, if part of that worldview includes religion. One can neatly consign religion to a non-philosophical area of one's life and leave it entirely alone. After all, in many people's lives a very important allegiance is to a particular football team, and it is in mine, but it would be difficult to argue philosophically that everyone should support the team I happen to support.

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