Can Artificial Intelligence “Understand” Religion? A Philosophical Inquiry into Meaning, Symbol, and Transcendence
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71204/axy5m078Keywords:
Artificial Intelligence, Religious Understanding, Hermeneutics, Religious Language, Symbol, TranscendenceAbstract
Recent advances in artificial intelligence, particularly in large language models, have intensified debates about machine understanding, interpretation, and meaning. In religious contexts, these debates acquire particular philosophical urgency: can artificial intelligence meaningfully “understand” religious texts, rituals, and symbols, or does its competence remain confined to formal linguistic and statistical operations? Drawing on philosophical hermeneutics and the philosophy of religious language, this article argues that AI’s apparent interpretive capacities do not amount to genuine religious understanding. Religious meaning is not reducible to semantic coherence or predictive accuracy; it presupposes existential involvement, symbolic participation, and openness to transcendence. By examining religious texts, symbolic language, and ritual practices, the paper delineates the cognitive and ontological boundaries of AI with respect to religion. It concludes that while AI can function as a powerful auxiliary tool in religious studies, it cannot replace the interpretive subject nor access the dimension of meaning constitutive of religious understanding.
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