Extract
[...] Religious belief, credulity, and virtue - Roger Pouivet (2002) - Should we consider, as Roger Pouivet, that credulity, particularly in matters of religion, is not necessarily condemnable? DOI: https://doi.org/10.5169/seals-381645 The author wants to defend the idea that, contrary to what a society that wants to appear very rational would have us believe, it may not be such a bad thing to believe in a religion because it was instilled in us from our earliest childhood. He is trying to question the idea that we should, perhaps from a certain age, question this initial childish belief and then believe 'for good reasons' after a methodical wipe of too easy beliefs acquired because, too young, we did not have the necessary critical distance at the time. [...]
[...] One can also think that religious belief should be less a matter of reason than of the heart: 'The heart has its reasons that reason does not know'2 ». Blaise Pascal indeed defends the idea that certain truths, particularly spiritual truths, are not accessible solely through logical reasoning. The Jansenist is also famous for having described the famous 'night of fire' he experienced on November when he described in his famous 'Memorial' the way in which he was called by faith: 'Fire. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of philosophers and scholars. Certainty, certainty. Feeling. Joy. Peace. [...]
[...] A person born in a Buddhist environment may think that their beliefs are 'better' than the religious beliefs of a person from a different religion. It is therefore important to develop a critical eye not only towards the different religions that ours but ideally also towards our own religion if we are believers. It is in this way that we can oppose the importance that Roger Pouivet wants to give to the notion of religious credulity. Thus, religious belief should not necessarily be rejected en bloc. [...]
[...] He therefore criticizes in a way the scientism that makes us hierarchize intellectual knowledge to the detriment of religious knowledge, considered as inferior to scientific knowledge in an entirely arbitrary manner. The Rationality of Cultural Belonging Belief in culture, particularly religious belief, is not in itself criticizable according to Roger Pouivet. This religious belief allows one to integrate into a community that transcends it. Belonging to these religious beliefs allows an individual to constitute themselves as belonging to a community. [...]
[...] Karl Marx Critique of the Philosophy of Right of Hegel, 1843 Nietzsche Friedrich, The Gay Science, fragment 110, 1882 Pascal Blaise, Thoughts, 1670 Pascal Blaise, The Memorial, 1654 T. Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man. VI, in Philosophical Works. éd. W. Hamilton, Edinburgh, 1846/1895, p. 450b, rééd. Hildesheim, G. Olms, 1983. [...]
