Reason and the Heart: A Prolegomenon to a Critique of Passional Reason (Cornell Studies in the Philosophy of Religion) - Softcover

Wainwright, William J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0801473489 ISBN 13: 9780801473487

Publisher: Cornell University Press, 2006

Synopsis

Between the opposing claims of reason and religious subjectivity may be a middle ground, William J. Wainwright argues. His book is a philosophical reflection on the role of emotion in guiding reason. There is evidence, he contends, that reason functions properly only when informed by a rightly disposed heart.

The idea of passional reason, so rarely discussed today, once dominated religious reflection, and Wainwright pursues it through the writings of three of its past proponents: Jonathan Edwards, John Henry Newman, and William James. He focuses on Edwards, whose work typifies the Christian perspective on religious reasoning and the heart. Then, in his discussion of Newman and James, Wainwright shows how the emotions participate in non-religious reasoning. Finally he takes up the challenges most often posed to notions of passional reason: that such views justify irrationality and wishful thinking, that they can't be defended without circularity, and that they lead to relativism. His response to these charges culminates in an eloquent and persuasive defense of the claim that reason functions best when influenced by the appropriate emotions, feelings, and intuitions.

About this title

About the Author

William J. Wainwright is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He is the editor, with Robert Audi, of Rationality, Religious Belief, and Moral Commitment: New Essays in the Philosophy of Religion, also from Cornell.

From the Back Cover

Between the opposing claims of reason and religious subjectivity may be a middle ground, William J. Wainwright argues. His book is a philosophical reflection on the role of emotion in guiding reason. There is evidence, he contends, that reason functions properly only when informed by a rightly disposed heart.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0801473489
• ISBN 13: 9780801473487
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 176