The Pragmatics of Defining Religion in a Multi （语用学的定义在一个多宗教）.pdf

The Pragmatics of Defining Religion in a Multi-cultural World Dr. Victoria Harrison University of Glasgow This is an archived version of ‘The Pragmatics of Defining Religion in a Multi-cultural World’, published in The International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 59 (2006): 133–152. The original article is available at: http:// ./content/4025242541886547/ Dr. V. Harrison Department of Philosophy University of Glasgow Glasgow G12 8QQ Scotland UK E-mail: V.Harrison@philosophy.arts.gla.ac.uk The Pragmatics of Defining Religion in a Multi-cultural World Abstract Few seem to have difficulty in distinguishing between religious and secular institutions, yet there is widespread disagreement regarding what “religion” actually means. Indeed, some go so far as to question whether there is anything at all distinctive about religions. Hence, formulating a definition of “religion” that can command wide assent has proven to be an extremely difficult task. In this article I consider the most prominent of the many rival definitions that have been proposed, the majority falling within three basic types: intellectual, affective