Do religious “beliefs” respond to evidence?

Philosophical Explorations 20 (sup1):52-72 (2017)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Some examples suggest that religious credences respond to evidence. Other examples suggest they are wildly unresponsive. So the examples taken together suggest there is a puzzle about whether descriptive religious attitudes respond to evidence or not. I argue for a solution to this puzzle according to which religious credences are characteristically not responsive to evidence; that is, they do not tend to be extinguished by contrary evidence. And when they appear to be responsive, it is because the agents with those credences are playing what I call The Evidence Game, which in fundamental ways resembles the games of make-believe described by Walton's theory of make-believe.

Author's Profile

Neil Van Leeuwen
Georgia State University

Analytics

Added to PP
2016-08-24

Downloads
662 (#22,851)

6 months
112 (#34,717)

Historical graph of downloads since first upload
This graph includes both downloads from PhilArchive and clicks on external links on PhilPapers.
How can I increase my downloads?