Journal of Religion and the Contemporary World

Journal of Religion and the Contemporary World

A critical study of Popper's falsifiability in justifying religious propositions

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
ali akbar abdolahadi moghaddam 1
, aflatoon sadeghi 2
mahdavinejad mohammad hosein 2
1 PhD student, Department of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
2 Associate Professor, Department of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
10.22096/rc.2023.562900.1074
Abstract
The problem of this research is to investigate the application of Popper's falsifiability to justify religious propositions and the possible success of this application. Popper's philosophy of science has attracted the attention of Christian theologians and theologians due to the fact that he considers metaphysics to be a rational matter, and they have used his opinions in the philosophy of science and epistemology to justify religious propositions or refute scientific opinions that were against religious teachings. . In this research, which was written with analytical-critical method, while examining the application of falsifiability theory in justifying theological propositions by various Christian theologians, objections to this application were presented in two basic and constructive areas. The findings of the research show that despite the capabilities of falsifiability for the rational justification of religious propositions, basic defects such as totalism, the lack of a specific criterion for knowledge, and structural defects such as the logic of skepticism that governs falsifiability and the impossibility of suspending religious knowledge until new knowledge is obtained, prevent falsifiability from being able to, defend the truth of religion and religious matters and will ultimately lead it to the abyss of relativism.
Keywords
Theology
religious propositions
justification
philosophy of science
falsification
Karl Popper

Subjects

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Journal of Religion and the Contemporary World
Volume 9, Issue 2 - Serial Number 17
Fall 2022 - Winter 2023, Issue 17
November 2023
Pages 211-231