Religious Diversity and Disagreement

Abstract

This chapter offers an overview of how philosophers have approached problems of disagreement, with a special focus on religious diversity and disagreement. It discusses some novel considerations that seem distinctive of religious inquiry, and which complicate the application of prominent views in the epistemology of disagreement. Disagreement has received a great deal of attention in mainstream epistemology. Yet the main questions in the epistemology of disagreement were originally posed by philosophers who had their eyes on the significance of religious disagreement. Religion is a controversial domain: religions distinguish themselves by making various claims about the supernatural, humanity, and how to live. Even among religious adherents who share certain core religious commitments, there remains much disagreement between sects or denominations over doctrine, worship, spirituality, and the afterlife. Contributing to the diversity are the many non-religious or irreligious, particularly atheists, who think that nearly all positive claims are false.