Two paradigms for religious representation: The physicist and the playground (a reply to Levy)
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Published on: September 19, 2012
1Department of Philosophy and Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, P.O. Box 3994, Atlanta, GA 30302-3994, United States; Department of Philosophy, University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Abstract:
In an earlier issue, I argue (2014) that psychology and epistemology should distinguish religious credence from factual belief. These are distinct cognitive attitudes. Levy (2017) rejects this distinction, arguing that both religious and factual "beliefs" are subject to "shifting" on the basis of fluency and "intuitiveness." Levy's theory, however, (1) is out of keeping with much research in cognitive science of religion and (2) misrepresents the notion of factual belief employed in my theory. So his claims don't undermine my distinction. I conclude by suggesting some approaches to empirically testing our views.

