The postmodern condition and the meaning of secularity: a study on the religious dynamics of postmodernity

Abstract

Twentieth century philosophy is dominated by an increasing number of philosophers who have given up on the Enlightenment project as the quest for unshakeable foundations for philosophical thinking and scientific investigation. The most prominent among them (in the English speaking world) is Richard Rorty. Rorty s thinking on truth will be the central issue in this project. Criticising the foundationalist project common to the Enlightenment and Logical Positivism, Rorty advocates a radical non-epistemological kind of philosophy. This post-epistemological philosophy should be conversational and edifying. A historizing type of philosophy (influenced by both classical Pragmatism and the European hermeneutical tradition), in which truth is seen merely as an expression of consensus among speakers, is seen by Rorty to be the best candidate-successor of Analytic philosophy. The philosophical part of this project includes an analysis of Rorty s debates with prominent analytic philosophers such as John Searle and Michael Dummett. My main focus will be on the concept of truth. The aim of my project is to investigate whether or not the principles of a Rortyan holistic-hermeneutical approach can be fruitfully applied to the philosophy of religion. Can, for example, Christian faith and ethics be redescribed in a post-modern paradigm, like Rorty s. And what does this redescription imply for the believer s claim to truth? Guiding authors on this behalf would include Jeffrey Stout and Don Cupitt. Depending on the results of this analysis I will try to find a viable road for a post-modern philosophy of religion, possibly in dialogue with more moderate post-Enlightenment thinkers such as Charles Taylor and/or Donald Davidson.