Faithful Attitudes: The Role of Faith in Our Lives

Overview

The University of Manchester will be hosting a forthcoming research workshop with the title and theme of ‘Faithful attitudes: The role of faith in our lives’. The event will be held 15th – 16th May 2017.

Theme

Research on faith has traditionally focussed on epistemological questions about religious faith and in particular whether it is reasonable to have faith without conclusive evidence in its favour. The aim of this conference is to broaden the discussion of faith in two main ways.

First, faith is widely taken to include non-cognitive constituents that distinguish it from belief. This is often taken to explain a further widely held assumption about faith, that it is intrinsically motivational. There are a variety of proposals for what these non-cognitive components might be: motivational commitments, desires, obedience, plans and commitments, stances, pro-attitudes, and dispositions to act. However, there is remarkably little discussion of these non-cognitive elements, and more generally whether faith is motivational, and these different accounts have not been explored or defended in detail. One objective of the workshop, therefore, is to address this lacuna in current research.

Second, faith is underexplored as a topic in the philosophy of mind and psychology. Despite a recent resurgence in interest in cognate topics such as the emotions, trust and hope, faith has received relatively little attention. One of the aims of the workshop is to consider faith as a psychological phenomenon and, moreover, one that need not have a religious object or subject matter. The workshop will, in connection with this theme, address the prospects for empirical research on faith.

Details

The two-day event will include talks from esteemed philosophers on various topics relevant to the conference theme. Speakers include:

-          Helen De Cruz (Oxford Brookes)

-          Elena Kalmykova (Birmingham)

-          Jonathan Kvanvig (Washington University, St. Louis)

-          Michael Scott (Manchester)

-          Anastasia Scrutton (Leeds)

-          Mark Wynn (Leeds)

Attendance at the workshop is free, but spaces are limited and so we ask that you register if you would like to attend. Please send an email to Finlay Malcolm – [email protected] – by 24th April 2017 if you would like to register. The workshop will be held at the University of Manchester, though the precise rooms will be announced closer to the time. We will also make a full programme available in the coming weeks.

This conference is generously supported by a grant from The Mind Association.