Sami Pihlström is professor of philosophy of religion at the University of Helsinki.

In this highly original approach to the limits and scope of our search for meaning, Pihlström combines pragmatism, humanism, a Kantian outlook, and what he calls “antitheodicism.” The result is a carefully crafted line of argument culminating in a pragmatic critique of meaning as it is available for humans. His focus on human practices and concerns, foremost on human suffering, as opposed to a metaphysical search for some alleged cosmic meaning from a God’s eye view, helps to reinvigorate many deadlocked debates in philosophical anthropology and the philosophy of religion.

• IntroductionChapter 1: A Pragmatist Perspective on the Philosophy of ReligionChapter 2: Meaning, Metaphysics, and Humanism: Between Pragmatism and Analytic Philosophy of ReligionChapter 3: The Plurality of Pluralisms in William JamesChapter 4: A Poetic Pragmatism? Some Literary Voices in (and after) James’s Humanistic Philosophy of ReligionChapter 5: The Problem of Suffering, (Secular) Theodicies, and Humanistic AntitheodicismChapter 6: Natural and Transcendental Illusions in Kantian-Pragmatist Philosophical AnthropologyChapter 7: Losing (One’s) Religion? Conclusion: Our Tragic Search for Meaning

Sami Pihlström is professor of philosophy of religion at the University of Helsinki.

In this highly original approach to the limits and scope of our search for meaning, Pihlström combines pragmatism, humanism, a Kantian outlook, and what he calls “antitheodicism.” The result is a carefully crafted line of argument culminating in a pragmatic critique of meaning as it is available for humans. His focus on human practices and concerns, foremost on human suffering, as opposed to a metaphysical search for some alleged cosmic meaning from a God’s eye view, helps to reinvigorate many deadlocked debates in philosophical anthropology and the philosophy of religion.

• IntroductionChapter 1: A Pragmatist Perspective on the Philosophy of ReligionChapter 2: Meaning, Metaphysics, and Humanism: Between Pragmatism and Analytic Philosophy of ReligionChapter 3: The Plurality of Pluralisms in William JamesChapter 4: A Poetic Pragmatism? Some Literary Voices in (and after) James’s Humanistic Philosophy of ReligionChapter 5: The Problem of Suffering, (Secular) Theodicies, and Humanistic AntitheodicismChapter 6: Natural and Transcendental Illusions in Kantian-Pragmatist Philosophical AnthropologyChapter 7: Losing (One’s) Religion? Conclusion: Our Tragic Search for Meaning

Sami Pihlström is professor of philosophy of religion at the University of Helsinki.

In this highly original approach to the limits and scope of our search for meaning, Pihlström combines pragmatism, humanism, a Kantian outlook, and what he calls “antitheodicism.” The result is a carefully crafted line of argument culminating in a pragmatic critique of meaning as it is available for humans. His focus on human practices and concerns, foremost on human suffering, as opposed to a metaphysical search for some alleged cosmic meaning from a God’s eye view, helps to reinvigorate many deadlocked debates in philosophical anthropology and the philosophy of religion.

• IntroductionChapter 1: A Pragmatist Perspective on the Philosophy of ReligionChapter 2: Meaning, Metaphysics, and Humanism: Between Pragmatism and Analytic Philosophy of ReligionChapter 3: The Plurality of Pluralisms in William JamesChapter 4: A Poetic Pragmatism? Some Literary Voices in (and after) James’s Humanistic Philosophy of ReligionChapter 5: The Problem of Suffering, (Secular) Theodicies, and Humanistic AntitheodicismChapter 6: Natural and Transcendental Illusions in Kantian-Pragmatist Philosophical AnthropologyChapter 7: Losing (One’s) Religion? Conclusion: Our Tragic Search for Meaning