- This pseudo-Paper is intended as the mechanism to record time spent on the Note 'Religion1' during my Thesis research, as from 2011.
- For the actual time recorded, click on "Paper Summary" above.
Write-up2 (as at 11/03/2018 20:19:41): Religion
Plug Note3- This Note doesn’t directly relate to my studies in the Philosophy of Religion, which has its own set of pages on my website, and quarterly Status Report4.
- Rather this Note has to do with the – historical and contemporary – ways in which religious questions and commitments have influenced philosophers in their discussions of personal identity.
- I disagree fundamentally with philosophers such as Alvin Plantinga that belief in God is “epistemologically basic”, but claim that philosophy asks questions that are prior to any others, except metaphilosophical questions5.
- Locke6’s thoughts on personal identity were initially motivated by worries about the metaphysics of Resurrection7, theodicy and other forensic8 concerns.
- I’ve noted elsewhere contemporary Christian Materialist9 Philosophers10 and their thoughts on the topic of personal identity.
- I’ve not yet made much of a study of Jewish views where these diverge from Christian views.
- No doubt Muslim philosophers have similar concerns and motivations, but I have not investigated them (yet).
- I have, however, had a brief look at Hindu and Buddhist11 thought on the topic of Reincarnation12 and Karma.
- Works on this topic that I’ve actually read13, include14 the following:-
- A reading list (where not covered elsewhere) might start with:-
- This is mostly a place-holder15. Currently, just see the categorised reading-list.
In-Page Footnotes
Footnote 2: - This is the write-up as it was when this Abstract was last output, with text as at the timestamp indicated (11/03/2018 20:19:41).
- Link to Latest Write-Up Note.
Footnote 3: - A number of my philosophical Notes are “promissory notes” currently only listing the books and papers (if any) I possess on the topic concerned.
- I’ve decided to add some text – whether by way of motivation, or something more substantive – for all these identified topics related to my Thesis.
- As I want to do this fairly quickly, the text may be confused or show surprising ignorance.
- The reader (if such exists) will have to bear with me, and display the principle of charity while this footnote exists.
Footnote 5: - Which are also philosophical, so part of philosophy itself.
Footnote 10: - The Note on Christian Materialism also references other contemporary philosophers with Christian affiliation, and their thoughts on personal identity.
Footnote 13: - Frequently I’ll have made copious marginal annotations, and sometimes have written up a review-note.
- In the former case, I intend to transfer the annotations into electronic form as soon as I can find the time.
- In the latter case, I will have remarked on the fact against the citation, and will integrate the comments into this Note in due course.
- My intention is to incorporate into these Notes comments on material I’ve already read rather than engage with unread material at this stage.
Footnote 14: - I may have read others in between updates of this Note – in which case they will be marked as such in the “References and Reading List” below.
- Papers or Books partially read have a rough %age based on the time spent versus the time expected.
Text Colour Conventions (see disclaimer)
- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2018