Philosophy and Kalam

Philosophy and Kalam

The Fallibility of Reason and the Epistemic Justification of Religious Beliefs Reconstructing the Authority of Reason in Imami Rational Theology

Document Type : Research Paper

Author
PhD Graduate in Imami Theology, Department of Islamic Theology and Beliefs, Faculty of Islamic Sciences and Teachings, University of Quran and Hadith, Qom, Iran.
Abstract
Awareness of human fallibility raises a fundamental question: Can religious beliefs remain epistemically justified, or does the possibility of rational error undermine their epistemic standing? Using an analytical-critical method and the theory of epistemic defeaters, this study evaluates an argument that moves from awareness of rational fallibility to the collapse of reason-based justification for religious beliefs. It combines contemporary epistemic analysis with a rereading of rational authority in Imami theological texts. The findings show that the collapse argument conflates three levels: the general possibility of error, an actual defeater in a particular case, and the global unreliability of reason. Fallibility disrupts a belief’s justificatory status only when specific and relevant evidence indicates a malfunction in the belief-forming process at issue. General awareness of cognitive limitation has no such effect, while a global denial of rational authority weakens the rational basis of that denial itself. Imami rational theology therefore supports a model of “limited but reliable reason.” Reason derives its authority not from infallibility or self-sufficiency, but from ordinary reliability, correctability, and a complementary relationship with revelation. This model reconciles critical rationality with epistemically responsible religious commitment.
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Subjects

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