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The logic of authoritative revelations

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Abstract

Despite the tendency to think that the justification of revealed truths depends on a verifiable contact with divine reality, this essay argues that the authoritative status of revelations is due to their role in defining a distinctively religious order of judgment. Rather than being immediately apparent to everyone, this kind of authority is local to particular forms of judgment that depend on the principles that frame these ways of thinking. Revelatory claims are logically exempted from the normal demands of justification because of this role they have as definitive judgments, and they share their immunity from ordinary forms of justification with other axiomatic principles. Yet their authority can in certain cases be challenged, and it is a secondary purpose of this essay to bring the various ways of challenging their truth to light.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    John H. Whittaker

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  1. John H. Whittaker
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Correspondence to John H. Whittaker.

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Whittaker, J.H. The logic of authoritative revelations. Int J Philos Relig 68, 167–181 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-010-9260-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-010-9260-7

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