Thomas Reid on Reidian Religious Belief Forming Faculties

Abstract

The role of epistemology in philosophy of religion hastransformed the discipline by diverting questions away from traditionalmetaphysical issues and toward concerns about justificationand warrant. Leaders responsible for these changes, includingPlantinga, Alston and Draper, use methods and arguments fromScottish Enlightenment figures. In general theists use and cite techniquespioneered by Reid and non-theists use and cite techniquespioneered by Hume, a split reduplicated among cognitive scientistsof religion, with Justin Barrett and Scott Atran respectively framingtheir results in Reid’s and in Hume’s language and argument. Thisstate of affairs sets our agenda. First we identify Reid’s use in theepistemology of religion and in the cognitive science of religion.Then we turn to Reid’s texts in an effort to assess the interpretationsand extrapolations of Reid given by participants in these debates.The answers to our research questions shed light on whatReid would believe today, were he apprised of the latest research inepistemology of and cognitive science of religion.