Religion and religious faith are among the most powerful forces behind human culture and collective or individual striving for moral and spiritual transformation. Through the centuries, religious faith has fostered enormous social and moral accomplishments. Yet, as critics emphasize, at the same time religions have been and continue to be misused for reprehensible aims, such as to cement illegitimate political power or foment violence and discrimination. It is thus an urgent philosophical task to understand the nature of and rationality conditions for faith and religion in their multifaceted cultural and cognitive dimensions, as well as in their various spiritual, practical, and affective aspects.
The doctoral college Philosophy of Religion (hereinafter referred to as ‘DCPR’), which is affiliated with the Innsbruck Center for Philosophy of Religion (ICPR), promotes high-quality philosophical research, and across a wide range of philosophical approaches, on religion and religious belief. Members need not be religious or be committed to any particular religious tradition or denomination. The DCPR fosters research projects across different religions and is committed to advancing rational religious discourse and interreligious dialogue.
Research projects eligible for the DCPR may include, but are not limited to, topics bearing on the nature of faith and religious belief; religious language; (religious) emotions; religious hermeneutics, including the understanding of religious doctrines and practices; science and religion; cosmology; concepts of God or the nature of the divine; religious experience; mysticism; theodicy and the problem of evil; free will; philosophical theology; historical traditions in the philosophy of religion; or the individual work of historically significant thinkers on religious matters. Projects located more generally within philosophical metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, ethics, or other philosophical areas are also welcome, as long as they elucidate and are applied to questions pertaining to religion or the relation between faith and reason.
