A Critical Examination of Roger Trigg's View on the Place of Metaphysics in compatibility of Science and Religion relation

Abstract

Explaining the relationship between rationality of religious belief and modern science is one of the central challenges for contemporary philosophers of religion and theologians. Many common criticisms of the rationality of religious beliefs assume scientism and the superiority of scientific rationality. In this article, by critically examining the views of Roger Trigg, a Christian philosopher and theologian, it is shown that such criticisms, despite what is claimed, are the results of making controversial metaphysical claims about meaning, rationality, and reality, rather than being the logical consequence of a scientific approach to the world. According to Trigg, philosophers of religion and theologians should rationally defend theological doctrines on the basis of metaphysical realism, rather than reinterpreting the metaphysical claims of religions in light of the criteria of scientific rationality. Moreover, modern science itself flourished in a theological context and has always required a theistic metaphysical framework to justify its fundamental assumptions. Yet one of the most serious challenges Trigg faces is responding to critics of metaphysical realism. Many philosophers and theologians argue that such a view ignores the limitations of human cognition and is therefore untenable.