Open AccessBlasphemy As A Thick Concept
Author(s) -
Óscar Pérez de la Fuente
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the age of human rights
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2340-9592
DOI - 10.17561/tahrj.v14.5477
Subject(s) - blasphemy , civility , cognitivism (psychology) , public sphere , meaning (existential) , sociology , value (mathematics) , epistemology , action (physics) , law , political science , philosophy , mathematics , psychology , physics , statistics , cognition , neuroscience , politics , quantum mechanics
Thick concepts have been central in metaethical debates over the last few decades, for instance in the controversy between cognitivism and non-cognitisivism or in the fact/value distinction. They are characterised as world guided, action guiding and community shared. In this paper, thick concepts are used to analyse case law on blasphemy from the European Court of Human Rights. When conducting this analysis, the test of civility proposed by Habermas and Rawls will also be applied. Public reason obligates the use of reasons accessible to all, that is to say not with a particular/thick meaning, in the public sphere.