Unsettling Obligations: Essays on Reason, Reality and the Ethics of Belief

Should we hold beliefs only insofar as they are rationally supportable? According to Allen W. Wood, we are morally obliged to do so - and yet how does this apply to religious beliefs? Unsettling Obligations examines these and related ethical and philosophical issues, taking and defending stances on many of them. Along with the theme of belief and evidence, other topics include an historical perspective of philosophy based on the Enlightenment rationalist tradition and a study of how our practical commitments help define truth and value.