The Role of Religion in Philosophy - Blake Bauserman

Following the Enlightenment, I have noticed philosophy seems to have forgotten its religious roots. The earliest philosophers, including Socrates, participated in a mytho-religious system. While on trial for charges of blaspheming the gods and corrupting Athens' youth, Socrates acknowledges the charges against him are false as with acknowledging daimons and demigods, he too acknowledges the gods as a whole. This is all to say that religion and myth are not relics of a bygone era where people attempt to explain natural phenomena through stories or teach their children lessons.

This harkens back to Dr. Redick's story about telling his daughter Caroline a troll beneath a bridge on the Noland Trail. The troll was indeed a stand-in for another figure, but all the same, trolls can be nasty and dangerous creatures, much like death can be for those who witness it. There is truth in myth. So too, regardless of one's claims about the nature of divinity, something useful can be found within religion.

Religion was one of the first things philosophy thought to explain. With the constant evolution of theology as time marches forward, this task is not done. Philosophers might even see themselves return to the old tales of the Greek or Norse as new matters worth inquiring on pop-up. This is all to say that there should be no dismissal of myth or religion within philosophy by the serious philosopher.

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