The traditions of fideism

Abstract

Philosophers and theologians acknowledge that ‘fideism’ is difficult to define but rarely agree on what the best characterization of the term is. In this article, I investigate the history of use of ‘fideism’ to explore why its meaning has been so contested and thus why it has not always been helpful for resolving philosophical problems. I trace the use of the term from its origins in French theology to its current uses in philosophy and theology, concluding that ‘fideism’ is helpful in resolving philosophical problems only when philosophers scrupulously acknowledge the tradition of use that informs their understanding of the word.

From Silence to Finding a Voice: Europe Moving from Religious Tolerance to Freedom of Belief

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“…3 3 The difficulty reaches back to the beginnings of agnosticism. Thomas D. Carroll notes that ‘in the nineteenth century, Protestant and Catholic theologians used the word [“fideism”] to name post‐Kantian theological approaches’ (Carroll, 2008, p. 8). The philosophy of the first agnostics, which developed at around that time, was heavily inspired by Henry Longueville Mansel, an Anglican theologian with a ‘post‐Kantian’ approach and strong fideistic tendencies; nonetheless, their thought could not reasonably be called fideistic. …”