“Analogy and human freedom: a tale of science and religion”
In this paper, I intend to investigate whether or not analogical reasoning, understood as part of Mauricio Beuchot’s analogical hermeneutics, can enable a dialogue in scenarios where there seem to be disagreements between religion and the social sciences. To do so, I will concentrate in the conflict between the biblical understanding of man as a created being and the notion of human beings as social constructs. I look to Ian Hacking, according to whom there is a fundamental dispute in social constructivism between nature and freedom, and then examine if analogical reasoning can help to engage the said conflict by enabling us to understand nature and freedom not as opposite alternatives but as complementary features of any anthropological theory. In the last part of the intervention, I will review Philip Hefner’s theory of the created co-creator as a theological anthropology that is structured by analogical reasoning. I argue that Hefner’s theory includes central aspects of the doctrine of creation and underlines the importance of both nature and freedom; such theory is an example of how analogical reasoning can help us to face the challenge mentioned from the beginning, i.e., the need to open a possible theological dialogue with social constructivism.