Knowledge by Presence and the Truth-Tracking Core of Religious Belief: Evaluating Evolutionary Debunking Arguments (EDAs) in Mulla Sadra’s Transcendent Philosophy

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Research

Authors
Mohammad Hossein Safizadeh 1
Mansour Nasiri 2
1 PhD Candidate in Philosophy of Religion, Farabi Campus, University of Tehran
2 Associate Professor, Faculty of Theology, Farabi College, University of Tehran, Qom, Iran.
10.30497/prr.2026.249925.2098
Abstract
The rise of the CSR and the identification of cognitive mechanisms involved in the formation of religious beliefs have given rise to an epistemic challenge known as EDAs. These arguments posit that religious beliefs are products of mechanisms evolved for survival (fitness) rather than for discovering the truth—making them “off-track” and thus lacking epistemic justification. This study aims to formulate a foundational response to this challenge, centered on the theory of Knowledge by Presence in Mulla Sadra’s Transcendent Philosophy. The research method is descriptive-analytical, utilizing library resources. The findings indicate that EDAs rest on the presupposition of representationalism; that is, they assume religious belief is fundamentally a form of mental representation. By contrast, in Transcendent Philosophy, the truth-tracking core of religious belief is grounded in the soul’s immediate knowledge by presence of its existential poverty and intrinsic dependence upon the Source of being. Unlike representational knowledge, such knowledge by presence is neither representational in nature nor the product of mediated cognitive mechanisms, and is therefore immune to evolutionary debunking. Accordingly, EDAs can challenge only the propositional and reflective dimension of religious belief, whereas its presentational core lies beyond their scope.
Keywords
EDAs
CSR
Knowledge by Presence
Transcendent Philosophy
Existential Poverty
Subjects
Philosophy of Religion Research

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 20 October 2026