José Eduardo Porcher
Biographic Data
| ID | 1113041 |
|---|---|
| NAME | José Eduardo Porcher |
| GIVEN NAMES | José Eduardo |
| FAMILY NAME | Porcher |
| SIGNATURE | PORCHER J E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5654-8396 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Epistemic injustice in the clinical care of practitioners of Afro-Brazilian religions
This paper develops a normative account of epistemic injustice in psychiatric contexts by analyzing a clinical encounter involving M. a twelve-year-old girl whose meaning-making draws upon an Afro-Brazilian religious framework that was excluded in a hospital setting. We argue that this exclusion exemplifies interpretive exclusivism—a mechanism through which clinicians override patients’ primary meaning-making resources in domains where medicine l…
Religion at the Crossroads
This article proposes a polythetic definition of religion using Afro-Brazilian religions as prototypes: not as the correct definition, but as a thought experiment to enable theorizing beyond Christian biases that have shaped the study of religion. By using a stable-property-cluster approach to definition—addressing weaknesses in both monothetic-essentialist and family-resemblance approaches—the resulting framework emphasizes hybridity, ritual, he…
Rethinking Spiritual Ontology in Candomblé and Avoiding the Legitimation Trap Across the Atlantic
This paper reexamines the ontology of the divine in Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion whose cosmology and ritual life challenge the monotheistic assumptions that continue to shape philosophy of religion. Responding to what I call the legitimation trap—the strategy of securing intellectual respectability for African and Afro-diasporic traditions by assimilating them to Western monotheistic norms—I argue that Candomblé articulates a hierarchica…
Afro-Brazilian Religions
This Element introduces Afro-Brazilian religions and underscores the necessity for an expanded methodological framework to encompass these traditions in the philosophy of religion. It emphasizes the importance of incorporating overlooked sources like mythic narratives and ethnographies while acknowledging the pivotal role of material culture in cognitive processes. Furthermore, it advocates for adopting an embodiment paradigm to facilitate the de…
The mythic narratives of Candomblé Nagô and what they imply about its Supreme Being
In this article, I explore the mythic narratives of the Yoruba-derived tradition of Candomblé Nagô to discern the attributes of its Supreme Being. I introduce Candomblé, offering an overview of its central beliefs and practices, and then present theological perspectives on the Supreme Being in African Traditional Religion as a basis for comparison with the myths I will examine. I consider the primary creation myths of Candomblé, emphasizing refer…
Engaging philosophically with Afro-Brazilian religions
This introduction outlines the motivation and significance of the first special issue dedicated to engaging philosophically with Afro-Brazilian religions in an Anglophone journal of philosophy. It traces the project’s origins, inspired by a need to diversify the philosophy of religion beyond traditional Western paradigms, and explores how Afro-Brazilian traditions like Candomblé and Umbanda challenge the discipline’s predominant focus on belief a…
The philosophy of religious studies
This article introduces a thematic issue consisting of six articles that apply philosophical reflection to the study of religion, showcasing the potential of an emerging subdiscipline: the philosophy of religious studies. This article discusses the kinds of questions raised within this subdiscipline, addresses the disconnect between philosophy and the study of religion, and offers an opinionated overview of the six contributions to the issue. It …
Awe at Natural Beauty as a Religious Experience
In this paper, we discuss an abductive argument for the existence of God from the experience of awe at natural beauty. If God’s creative work is a viable explanation for why we experience awe at natural beauty, and there is no satisfactory naturalistic explanation for the origins of such experiences, then we have defeasible evidence that God exists. To evaluate the argument’s tenability, we assess the merits of the two main theocentric frameworks…
Afro-Brazilian Religions and the Prospects for a Philosophy of Religious Practice
In this paper, we take our cue from Kevin Schilbrack's admonishment that the philosophy of religion needs to take religious practices seriously as an object of investigation. We do so by offering Afro-Brazilian traditions as an example of the methodological poverty of current philosophical engagement with religions that are not text-based, belief-focused, and institutionalized. Anthropologists have studied these primarily orally transmitted tradi…
Abrindo Caminhos Em Filosofia Da Religião Pela Incorporação De Tradições Afro-Brasileiras
Com foco nas duas principais tradições de matiz africano no Brasil, o candomblé e a umbanda, sugero que essas tradições suscitam questões específicas e envolventes para a filosofia da religião, que a disciplina precisa rever sua metodologia para abarcá-las, e que o contato entre esses mundos até então isolados pode iluminar o estudo de ambos. Farei isso apontando que práticas rituais, tradições orais e etnografias do candomblé e da umbanda podem …
Afro-Brazilian Religions and the Prospects for a Philosophy of Religious Practice
In this paper, we take our cue from Kevin Schilbrack's admonishment that the philosophy of religion needs to take religious practices seriously as an object of investigation. We do so by offering Afro-Brazilian traditions as an example of the methodological poverty of current philosophical engagement with religions that are not text-based, belief-focused, and institutionalized. Anthropologists have studied these primarily orally transmitted tradi…
Abrindo Caminhos Em Filosofia Da Religião Pela Incorporação De Tradições Afro-Brasileiras
Com foco nas duas principais tradições de matiz africano no Brasil, o candomblé e a umbanda, sugero que essas tradições suscitam questões específicas e envolventes para a filosofia da religião, que a disciplina precisa rever sua metodologia para abarcá-las, e que o contato entre esses mundos até então isolados pode iluminar o estudo de ambos. Farei isso apontando que práticas rituais, tradições orais e etnografias do candomblé e da umbanda podem …
Awe at Natural Beauty as a Religious Experience
In this paper, we discuss an abductive argument for the existence of God from the experience of awe at natural beauty. If God’s creative work is a viable explanation for why we experience awe at natural beauty, and there is no satisfactory naturalistic explanation for the origins of such experiences, then we have defeasible evidence that God exists. To evaluate the argument’s tenability, we assess the merits of the two main theocentric frameworks…
Afro-Brazilian Religions and the Prospects for a Philosophy of Religious Practice
In this paper, we take our cue from Kevin Schilbrack's admonishment that the philosophy of religion needs to take religious practices seriously as an object of investigation. We do so by offering Afro-Brazilian traditions as an example of the methodological poverty of current philosophical engagement with religions that are not text-based, belief-focused, and institutionalized. Anthropologists have studied these primarily orally transmitted tradi…
The philosophy of religious studies
This article introduces a thematic issue consisting of six articles that apply philosophical reflection to the study of religion, showcasing the potential of an emerging subdiscipline: the philosophy of religious studies. This article discusses the kinds of questions raised within this subdiscipline, addresses the disconnect between philosophy and the study of religion, and offers an opinionated overview of the six contributions to the issue. It …
Afro-Brazilian Religions
This Element introduces Afro-Brazilian religions and underscores the necessity for an expanded methodological framework to encompass these traditions in the philosophy of religion. It emphasizes the importance of incorporating overlooked sources like mythic narratives and ethnographies while acknowledging the pivotal role of material culture in cognitive processes. Furthermore, it advocates for adopting an embodiment paradigm to facilitate the de…
The mythic narratives of Candomblé Nagô and what they imply about its Supreme Being
In this article, I explore the mythic narratives of the Yoruba-derived tradition of Candomblé Nagô to discern the attributes of its Supreme Being. I introduce Candomblé, offering an overview of its central beliefs and practices, and then present theological perspectives on the Supreme Being in African Traditional Religion as a basis for comparison with the myths I will examine. I consider the primary creation myths of Candomblé, emphasizing refer…
Engaging philosophically with Afro-Brazilian religions
This introduction outlines the motivation and significance of the first special issue dedicated to engaging philosophically with Afro-Brazilian religions in an Anglophone journal of philosophy. It traces the project’s origins, inspired by a need to diversify the philosophy of religion beyond traditional Western paradigms, and explores how Afro-Brazilian traditions like Candomblé and Umbanda challenge the discipline’s predominant focus on belief a…
Epistemic injustice in the clinical care of practitioners of Afro-Brazilian religions
This paper develops a normative account of epistemic injustice in psychiatric contexts by analyzing a clinical encounter involving M. a twelve-year-old girl whose meaning-making draws upon an Afro-Brazilian religious framework that was excluded in a hospital setting. We argue that this exclusion exemplifies interpretive exclusivism—a mechanism through which clinicians override patients’ primary meaning-making resources in domains where medicine l…
Religion at the Crossroads
This article proposes a polythetic definition of religion using Afro-Brazilian religions as prototypes: not as the correct definition, but as a thought experiment to enable theorizing beyond Christian biases that have shaped the study of religion. By using a stable-property-cluster approach to definition—addressing weaknesses in both monothetic-essentialist and family-resemblance approaches—the resulting framework emphasizes hybridity, ritual, he…
Rethinking Spiritual Ontology in Candomblé and Avoiding the Legitimation Trap Across the Atlantic
This paper reexamines the ontology of the divine in Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion whose cosmology and ritual life challenge the monotheistic assumptions that continue to shape philosophy of religion. Responding to what I call the legitimation trap—the strategy of securing intellectual respectability for African and Afro-diasporic traditions by assimilating them to Western monotheistic norms—I argue that Candomblé articulates a hierarchica…
Philosophy (7 works) · Epistemology (5 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (4 works) · Religion and Society in Latin America (4 works) · Psychology (3 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (3 works) · Sociology (3 works) · African cultural and philosophical studies (2 works) · Narrative (2 works) · Philosophy of religion (2 works)