Religious scepticism and the positisvists’ categorical mistake: an epistemological response

Abstract

For the positivists, religion is incapable of providing man with knowledge because religious beliefs do not meet the evidential criteria of empirical verification. This assumption has greatly fuelled the present surging tendency to reject religion as epistemologically irrelevant for man. To countervail such sceptical supposition, this Paper argues for the knowledge-productive capacity of religion, whose beliefs are considered justifiable within the “issue-context” and through demonstrable faith protocol. It maintains that, justification is always relative to an audience; hence, to preach scepticism a duty until “sufficient empirical or scientific evidence” for religious beliefs is found – as the positivists do – is a “categorical mistake”.

Keywords: Religious, Scepticism, Positivism, Categorical Mistake Epistemo Justification