The Evedentialist view Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Evedentialist view - Essay Example Does faith entertain the principle of seeing for the sake of believing as a reasonable school of thought when it comes to the principle of belief and religion? Evidentialist holds that facts speak for themselves and that the basis for believing will depend upon the degree of factual evidences that prove the validity of something. In Christian apologetics today, evidentialism seeks to show the truth of the religion by demonstrating its factuality compared to the classical views, which regard logic as the primary criterion of truth and faith. The evidentialist view assigns the criterion of belief on the basis of facts and not just reason2; one finds evidences and factual data that prove the existence of what is believed to be the truth. In the modern world, people, due to the availability of many points of view, do not tend to believe in something that is not proven or does not present enough facts. Evidentialism works on the principle of evidence based on witnessed and felt facts that prove the existence of something rather than on false beliefs based on pure reason. Moreover, the evidentialist view will denote a positive idea if applied to life principles but not to all aspects of life, especially religion, which works more on the principle of faith, not on the principle of facts. ... Evidentialism dominates the modern culture; every reasonable theory should be testable and should have factual data to support its existence. It is believed that visual capabilities provide a hard evidence of existence, unlike cognitions or thoughts which are not based on senses but are mere beliefs that provide less reliable evidence or sometimes none at all. Therefore, religion, which is not usually based on senses, cannot meet the standards set by the evidentialist viewpoint – that is why evidentialism supports the modern critique of religion3. There are some objections to evidentialism. It is argued that the idea of evidentialism is somewhat controversial. Firstly, it defies the principle of conservatism; it is governed more by the desire to avoid falsehood than the desire to arrive at the truth. Another argument states that if the principle of sufficient evidence works, people would be forced to abandon most of their beliefs. Furthermore, it states that evidentialism does not explain the way people come to most of their beliefs based on what they perceive to be reliable and trustworthy testimony of others, without requiring an extensive evaluation of the evidence that others have passed along4. Although evidentialism is plagued with contradictions as regards connecting facts with faith, one cannot deny the strength it has as a belief principle that justification is a reason-giving conception of arriving at true beliefs. It holds the idea that what a person really believes is something that is true and not based on myths and passed-on fallacies. Evidentialism, in my opinion, strives to achieve the greater good, because it