Ontology, Epistemology and Methodology of Religion according to Thomas Luckmann

Subject Areas : Christianity

samane feizi ¹ (PhD Candidate of Religion and Mysticism, Faculty of theology, Ferdowsi University of Mashad)
Mehdi Hassanzadeh ² (Associate Professor of Religion and Mysticism, Faculty of theology, Ferdowsi university of Mashad)
behzad hamidieh ³ (Assistant Professor of Comparative Study of Religion and Mysticism Department at University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran)
mansour motamedi ⁴ (department of religions and mysticism, university of Mashhad)

Received: 2022-11-06 Accepted : 2022-11-06 Published : 2022-08-23

Keywords: Thomas Luckmann, religion, Ontology, Epistemology, Methodology,

Abstract :

Luckmann defines religion as a meaning system that transcends man from his biological nature to become actor of the social scene. Since understanding the philosophical foundations of science is important for understanding and interpreting theories and research results accurately and clarifies the basis of the researcher's thought and coherence of his theory, in this paper the ontological, epistemological and methodological foundations this definition has been investigated. Luckmann has an intermediate position in ontology; he seems to be realistic in that religion arises in the intersubjective relationship of individuals, and has the power of social control as an institution. In epistemology and methodology, he is constructivist; believes that phenomenology is an approach can provide a framework for understanding the concepts and measuring social reality from a constructivist standpoint. But in method, he distinguishes between sociology as science and phenomenology as philosophy, and uses phenomenology as a theoretical context for his thought.

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