Talk:Philosophy of religion: Difference between revisions

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As to the ''number'' usually attached to "G/god," in philosophy of religion, while no doubt the field is expanding beyond the Abrahamic religions, the by-far dominant use allegedly refers to a single entity, isn't it?  I would be surprised if the most-debated question is ''not'' still, "Does anything like the God of the Abrahamic religions exist?" but instead, "Does anything going under the title 'god' exist?" --[[User:Larry Sanger|Larry Sanger]] 12:58, 16 February 2007 (CST)
As to the ''number'' usually attached to "G/god," in philosophy of religion, while no doubt the field is expanding beyond the Abrahamic religions, the by-far dominant use allegedly refers to a single entity, isn't it?  I would be surprised if the most-debated question is ''not'' still, "Does anything like the God of the Abrahamic religions exist?" but instead, "Does anything going under the title 'god' exist?" --[[User:Larry Sanger|Larry Sanger]] 12:58, 16 February 2007 (CST)
:I don't want to imply that philosophical practice is now to use the lowercase, only that this usage is increasing (though I know that many writers use the upper-case "G" under pressure from their publishers).  I'd agree that "god" is a peculiar term, largely because it has been appropriated for so many and so varied uses. There probably aren't any other examples, simply because no other alleged, possibly fictional particular has been referred to by a term that has then had its usage extended radically.  "D/devil" come close, I suppose, being (usually) given a capital when used to refer to the Christian being, and lower-case in other cases, even when a specific being is intended (and "P/pegasus", because of its use by Cottingham in his response to Descartes' ontological argument).  I'd go for a general use of "d" for "devil" to, using "Satan" or "Lucifer" as the proper name.
:I'm not sure what the historical usage is; "He", "Him", etc., of course, are largely nineteenth-centuriy introductions.  A Jewish friend of mine has always criticised those who write "G-d", on the basis that it's the pointless transfer of a custom concerning the Hebrew name of god (the tetragrammaton in particular) to an English common noun.
:If the policy here is always to use the upper-case version I'll comply without much concern, though I'm so used to writing it without the upper-case "G" that I'll probably need tidying up after, at least at the beginning (especially as I'm about three quarters of the way through writing an introduction to the philosophy of religion at the moment, so it's a particularly live habit for me).
:(I tried to use search engines for a Web search, but none of them seem to allow a case-sensitive search any more.) --[[User:Peter J. King|Peter J. King]] <span style="background:black">&nbsp;[[User talk:Peter J. King|<font color="yellow"><b>Talk</b></font>]]&nbsp;</span> 13:42, 16 February 2007 (CST)

Revision as of 13:42, 16 February 2007

"god"

A decent start--I think, however, that since most of philosophy of religion concerns the God of the monotheistic religions, it can't be the case that the default should be (lower case) "god" which means "God or gods."

Surely we aren't going to have to debate whether "God" should be capitalized? It's a proper name, like Apollo.

--Larry Sanger 12:02, 16 February 2007 (CST) (an agnostic and former teacher of phil. of religion)

I must admit that my own view (fairly common in philosophy, at least) is that "god" isn't a proper name, but (as it's sometimes put) a job description. "Allah", "Jahweh", "Brahman", "Quetzalcoatl" (and indeed, "Apollo"), etc., are proper names of gods, surely. I used lower-case "g" in my own book, and I've seen it in a number of decent books in the field.
Also, though, modern philosophy of religion is beginning to expand beyond the philosophy of the Abrahamic religions (not at Oxford for the most part, of course). I used the upper-case version at the articles on Augustine and his Confessions, however, as there it did seem to be used more like a proper name.
I don't feel strongly about it to put up a fight, though. --Peter J. King  Talk  12:45, 16 February 2007 (CST)

I don't wish to "fight" about it, of course.  :-) But if philosophical practice is as you say (I never did a whole lot of reading in philosophy of religion, I admit), I find it very puzzling. What other words are there like it? We are talking about the purported existence of a particular being, which goes by a proper name ("God") according to those who believe in it, despite the word's being obviously appropriated from the more general use. Can you think of a single example like it--where scholars, or anyone, make a general word lower-case that has been pressed into service as the name of an alleged, possibly fictional, particular?

As to the number usually attached to "G/god," in philosophy of religion, while no doubt the field is expanding beyond the Abrahamic religions, the by-far dominant use allegedly refers to a single entity, isn't it? I would be surprised if the most-debated question is not still, "Does anything like the God of the Abrahamic religions exist?" but instead, "Does anything going under the title 'god' exist?" --Larry Sanger 12:58, 16 February 2007 (CST)

I don't want to imply that philosophical practice is now to use the lowercase, only that this usage is increasing (though I know that many writers use the upper-case "G" under pressure from their publishers). I'd agree that "god" is a peculiar term, largely because it has been appropriated for so many and so varied uses. There probably aren't any other examples, simply because no other alleged, possibly fictional particular has been referred to by a term that has then had its usage extended radically. "D/devil" come close, I suppose, being (usually) given a capital when used to refer to the Christian being, and lower-case in other cases, even when a specific being is intended (and "P/pegasus", because of its use by Cottingham in his response to Descartes' ontological argument). I'd go for a general use of "d" for "devil" to, using "Satan" or "Lucifer" as the proper name.
I'm not sure what the historical usage is; "He", "Him", etc., of course, are largely nineteenth-centuriy introductions. A Jewish friend of mine has always criticised those who write "G-d", on the basis that it's the pointless transfer of a custom concerning the Hebrew name of god (the tetragrammaton in particular) to an English common noun.
If the policy here is always to use the upper-case version I'll comply without much concern, though I'm so used to writing it without the upper-case "G" that I'll probably need tidying up after, at least at the beginning (especially as I'm about three quarters of the way through writing an introduction to the philosophy of religion at the moment, so it's a particularly live habit for me).
(I tried to use search engines for a Web search, but none of them seem to allow a case-sensitive search any more.) --Peter J. King  Talk  13:42, 16 February 2007 (CST)