Between naturalism and religion
Subtitle: philosophical essays
By: by Jürgen Habermas ; translated by Ciaran Cronin.
Publisher: Polity Press; Polity
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Cambridge, UK; Malden, MA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 361
ISBN-13: 9780745638249; 9780745638256
Subjects: Naturalism; Naturalism -- Religious aspects; Science -- Philosophy; Religion and science
Work titles: Zwischen Naturalismus und Religion.
Description: "Two countervailing trends mark the intellectual tenor of our age the spread of naturalistic worldviews and religious orthodoxies. Advances in biogenetics, brain research, and robotics are clearing the way for the penetration of an objective scientific self-understanding of persons into everyday life. For philosophy, this trend is associated with the challenge of scientific naturalism. At the same time, we are witnessing an unexpected revitalization of religious traditions and the politicization of religious communities across the world. From a philosophical perspective, this revival of religious energies poses the challenge of a fundamentalist critique of the principles underlying the modern West's postmetaphysical understanding of itself. The tension between naturalism and religion is the central theme of this major new book by JürgenHabermas. On the one hand he argues for an appropriate naturalistic understanding of cultural evolution that does justice to the normative character of the human mind. On the other hand, he calls for an appropriate interpretation of the secularizing effects of a process of social and cultural rationalization increasingly denounced by the champions of religious orthodoxies as a historical development peculiar to the West. These reflections on the enduring importance of religion and the limits of secularism under conditions of postmetaphysical reason set the scene for an extended treatment the political significance of religious tolerance and for a fresh contribution to current debates on cosmopolitanism and a constitution for international society."--Book cover.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.