Philosophy 1022E Lecture Notes - Rwandan Genocide, Abrahamic Religions, Axial Age
15 Mar 2014
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About 1/2 of the class is definitively non-religious. Non-religious make up 15% of the population with athiests making up a further 5%. This then implies that 80% of the world"s population is religious. Traditionally we understand defining something as giving its necessary and sufficient conditions. Eg: the definition of "bachelor" is "unmarried male" Therefore anything that is a bachelor is an unmarried male, and anything that is an unmarried male is a bachelor. "unmarried" and "male" are, taken together, a sufficient condition of "bachelor" Essence = definition = necessary & sufficient conditions. None of these features are present in every single religion! Thus there is no necessary condition of religion. Thus it is not possible to give necessary and sufficient conditions. Then there is no definition, and no essence. So lets go back and take a fresh look at the idea of definition. Many of the world"s major conflicts are defined by religious difference.
