Philosophy For Our Times The philosophy of religion and love with Alain de Botton and Alex O'Connor
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Nov 25, 2025 
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Broaden Philosophy's Religious Lens
- Alain de Botton argues philosophy's study of religion is too narrow when limited to God's existence debates.
- He urges a broader philosophical inquiry into ritual, community, architecture and time that religion engages.
Awe Reveals Religion's Human Role
- Awe frames religious experience by inviting us to accept finitude and encounter vast scales of time, space, or wisdom.
- De Botton says philosophers once probed these human reactions but now neglect such existential questions.
Religious Impulses Resurface Secularly
- De Botton sees modern atheism as a useful starting point but not an endpoint for cultural development.
- He predicts religious impulses will reappear in secular forms like environmental or political movements.