Pizhuhish nāmah-i intiqādī-i mutūn va barnāmah hā-yi ̒ulūm-i insāni (Critical Studies in Texts & Programs of Human Sciences)

A Critique of the Book “The Entrepreneurial State

Document Type : Research

Authors

Ali Fotovvatian 1
Mohammad Javad Khazrai 2

1 Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 PhD in Anthropology, University of Tehran Tehran, Iran

10.30465/crtls.2025.52867.2960
Abstract
This article offers a critical examination of the status of religion and theology within the horizon of postmodernity, with a particular focus on the thought of John D. Caputo. The central question of the study concerns the possibility or impossibility of articulating a “post-metaphysical” theology: a form of theology that, while breaking with the Western metaphysical tradition, is nonetheless capable of preserving its religious meaning and existential function. The point of departure for this inquiry is the historical fact that the modern human and social sciences emerged within the framework of the Enlightenment project and in opposition to traditional theology. This project, with its emphasis on autonomous reason, positivist science, and secularism, either reduced religion to an early stage in the evolution of human consciousness or regarded it as an obstacle to freedom and progress. With the emergence of epistemological, ethical, and existential crises within modernity, and with the advent of the postmodern condition, the possibility of rethinking the relationship between religion, meaning, and human life has once again come to the fore. In this context, postmodern theology, particularly Caputo’s intellectual project, constitutes a significant attempt to restore the credibility of religion within a non-metaphysical horizon.
Materials & Methods
The methodology employed in this article is analytical, critical, and grounded in a hermeneutical reading of philosophical and theological texts. First, Caputo’s theoretical framework is examined in relation to the critique of metaphysics. Subsequently, the primary sources of his intellectual inspiration, most notably the thought of Martin Heidegger and Jacques Derrida are  analyzed. In this process, conceptual analysis is  used to examine key notions such as “the metaphysics of presence,” “radical hermeneutics,” “religion without religion,” and “theology of the event.” In the final stage, a critical approach is  adopted to assess the internal coherence and theological implications of Caputo’s project. The methodological aim of the article is not merely to describe these positions, but to evaluate their capacity to fulfill the claim of overcoming metaphysics.
Discussion & Result
The findings of the study indicate that, in the first instance, Caputo, drawing on Heidegger’s critique of the Western metaphysical tradition understands metaphysics as a totalizing and abstract system that, by claiming privileged access to truth, neglects lived reality and the finitude of human existence. This critique is directed in particular at Christian theology influenced by scholastic philosophy, which conceptualized God as the “highest being” or “first cause” and thereby reduced religious faith to the acceptance of theoretical propositions. However, Caputo subsequently regards the Heideggerian critique as insufficient and, by employing Derridean deconstruction, moves toward the formulation of a “radical hermeneutics,” a hermeneutics that emphasizes indeterminacy, historicity, difference, and the impossibility of fixing meaning. Within this framework, Caputo introduces the notion of “religion without religion”: a form of religiosity that relies neither on religious institutions nor on absolute epistemological claims, but rather on faith understood as openness to “the impossible.” By developing a “theology of the event,” Caputo conceives God not as a metaphysical being, but as a name for an event that takes place within history, language, and human experience, and that continually points toward an indeterminate future. The event, in this sense, possesses a “weak force”: a force that does not compel, but nevertheless issues an ethical and existential call, summoning human beings to responsibility before the other. Accordingly, religious faith in Caputo’s thought is less a matter of cognition than an ethical and practical act, realized in love, responsibility, and commitment to the other. Nonetheless, the critical analysis presented in this article demonstrates that Caputo’s project, despite its claim to break with metaphysics, does not fully escape it. Reducing God to a linguistic symbol or an ethical metaphor for the “other” generates serious ambiguity in the relationship between religion and ethics and dissolves the fundamental distinction between the divine and the human. As a result, Caputo’s theology risks devolving into a form of ethical humanism in which religious language is retained while the transcendent and metaphysical dimension of religion is lost. From this perspective, metaphysics in Caputo’s project is not eliminated, but rather displaced from the divine realm to the sphere of human subjectivity and language.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the article argues that Caputo’s intellectual project makes a significant contribution to the dynamism of postmodern theology and to the critique of metaphysical and religious forms of violence, while opening a new horizon for understanding faith as an open-ended, non-dogmatic, and ethical experience. Nevertheless, the analyses presented here indicate that the claim of a complete overcoming of metaphysics in Caputo’s thought encounters fundamental difficulties. Although Caputo rightly draws attention to the latent violence of traditional metaphysics and the consequences of authoritarian theology, his substitution of God with the event, language, or the human other entails the risk of reducing religion to ethics. Within such a framework, the distinction between the divine and the human is weakened, and theology remains confined to the horizon of human experience. Consequently, metaphysics is not abolished but rather implicitly and covertly reproduced in the form of anthropocentrism and linguocentrism

Keywords

Keywords: Caputo, Heidegger, Derrida, Theology, Metaphysics
Subjects
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Heidegger, Martin (1969), "The Onto-Theo-Logical Constitution of Metaphysics", In Identity and Difference, Trans. Joan Stambaugh, Harper & Row Publishers, New York.
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Pizhuhish nāmah-i intiqādī-i mutūn va barnāmah hā-yi ̒ulūm-i insāni (Critical Studies in Texts & Programs of Human Sciences)
Volume 25, Issue 3 - Serial Number 121
Autumn 2025
Autumn 2026
Pages 53-79

  • Receive Date 14 August 2025
  • Revise Date 17 September 2025
  • Accept Date 12 November 2025

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