Debate Religion and the Meaning of Life

Date: Friday, May 31st, 2013
Time: 15.00 – 17:00
Venue: Kanunnikenzaal Academiegebouw, Achter de Dom 7, Utrecht
Speakers: John Cottingham, Wijnand Mijnhardt, and Herman Philipse.
Entrance: free, no registration required.

Religion and the Meaning of Life

Human beings have a hunger for meaning in their lives. Many feel that a religious framework gives their lives meaning, but on the other side there are many who reject theism and hold that any meaning that life may have must be found entirely from our own resources. This three-cornered discussion will tackle the ancient question of life’s meaning from a variety of philosophical perspectives, religious, secular and historical.

Chair: Professor Floris Cohen (Utrecht University)

14.30-15.00: Coffee and Tea

15.00-15.40: Professor John Cottingham: The Meaningful Life and the Transcendent

Human beings have transcendent longings that cannot be satisfied by a merely naturalistic outlook. We cannot create meaning or value for ourselves, but can only find it in orienting ourselves towards an objective realm of goodness that is not of our making. Only a theistic worldview can satisfactorily accommodate these truths.

John Cottingham is Professorial Research Fellow at Heythrop College, University of London, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Reading, and an Honorary Fellow of St John’s College, Oxford University.

15.40-16.00: Professor Wijnand Mijnhardt: In Search of Respectful Agnosticism: a historical perspective

The 1650-1750 period saw unprecedented debates on the veracity of religious claims and dogmas, inspired by the new sciences and the voyages of discovery. Modern atheism has provided itself with a solid genealogy dating back to this period. However, these early modern debates also produced a viable justification of respectful agnosticism. On the origins of that neglected tradition my comments will focus.

Wijnand Mijnhardt is Professor in Comparative History of the Sciences and the Humanities, and Director of the Descartes Centre, Utrecht University.

16.00-16.20: Professor Herman Philipse: Religions as Useful Delusions

Religious beliefs and practices are useful in many ways, both for individual believers and for communities. Yet all positive claims concerning the supernatural that religious believers endorse are probably false, if meaningful at all. This dual-aspect view of religions raises a crucial moral issue: should we prefer truth to usefulness?

Herman Philipse is Distinguished University Professor at Utrecht University.

16.20-17.00: Discussion

17.00-18.00: Drinks