ABSTRACT
This chapter considers four of the most important of potential problems. These are the problems of scepticism, exclusivism, relativism, and reductionism. Local scepticism claims that pluralism is a problem for some areas only, as for instance ethics and religion. Both types of scepticism raise difficulties for religious knowledge. Local scepticism claims that pluralism is a problem for some areas only, as for instance ethics and religion. Both types of scepticism raise difficulties for religious knowledge. Of the sceptic’s course of action of rejecting everything Rescher concludes, ‘A sceptical policy of systematic avoidance is fundamentally irrational, because it blocks from the very outset any prospect of realising the inherent goals of the enterprise of factual inquiry’. The problem of relativism, like that of scepticism, has a long history stretching back to the time of Plato and Aristotle. In the case of religion the same pattern holds true in many respects.
