Pluralism and Religion Again: Reply to Henry Hardy

Keywords: value pluralism, universalist religions, religious pluralism, conflicts within values

English abstract: The article constitutes a continuation of the discussion between Henry Hardy and myself, which was initiated in AFPiFS in 2019 as a result of my publishing a review of Hardy’s book: In Search of Isaiah Berlin: A Literary Adventure (2018). In the present commentary I address again the nub of our disagreement, that is the relationship between Berlin’s pluralism and universalist religions, like Christianity and Islam. According to Hardy pluralism undermines universalist religions. I distance myself from his standpoint and argue that it is possible to reconcile adherence to pluralist perspective in ethics with religious belief. Besides, I return to the objection raised in my review of Hardy’s book and take up the thread of conflicts within values. I sustain my charge that Hardy does not take seriously enough the implications of conflicts within single values.