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RE: Philosophy > 5. Religious experience > Flashcards

5. Religious experience Flashcards

1
Q

William James

William James dates?

A

1842-1910

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2
Q

William James

Who was William James?

A

American philosopher and psychologist

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3
Q

William James

What did W. James claim about religious experience?

A

that they occur in different religions and have similar features.

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4
Q

William James

Mystics

A
  • -ppl who have + try to have religous experinces
  • they are intense + immersive experinces
  • “defies expression, that no adequate report of its contents can be given in words” - its ineffable
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5
Q

William James

W. James’ four criteria which characterise all mystical religious experiences:

A
  1. Ineffable
  2. Noetic
  3. Transient
  4. Passive
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6
Q

W. James’ four criteria

Ineffable

A

the experience is beyond language and cannot be put into words to accurately described.

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7
Q

W. James’ four criteria

Noetic

A

some sort of knowledge of insight is gained

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8
Q

W. James’ four criteria

transient

A

the existance is temporary

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9
Q

W. James’ four criteria

Passive

A

the experience happens to a person; the person doesn’t make the experience happen

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10
Q

William James

William James quote about the most useful descriptor of a mysterical experience

A

“defies expression, that no adequate report of its contents can be given in words”.
* It is ineffable.
* has to be directly experienced to be appreciated

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11
Q

Aquinas quote after his religious experience

A

“All that I have written seems like straw compare to what has now been revealed to me”

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12
Q

William James

pluralist argument for religious experience

A
  • experinces are coming from a higher spirtual reality
  • they are the core of religion, teachings + practices, were ‘2nd hand’ religion
  • pluralist = view all religions are true
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13
Q

William James

W. Stace

A

developed this argument much more explicitly, claiming that the universality of certain features of religious experiences is good evidence that they are real.

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14
Q

William James

Paul Knitter

A
  • pluralist who makes similar argument about RE
  • points to a metaphor = each religion is a well, if you go to bottom (via ME) you get down to underground water that u then realise is source all other wells (other religions)
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15
Q

William James

Alternative explaination (critisicm)

A
  • Cross-cultural similarity of the features of religious experiences could have naturalistic explanation.
  • could be that all human brains hallucinate similarly because they evolved similarly.
  • also could be that religious experiences serve a universal psychological or sociological function (e.g. Durkheim or Jung).
  • we can explain the cross-cultural similarities of religious experiences without needing the therefore unnecessary explanation of a higher spiritual reality.
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16
Q

William James

James’ pragmatism argument, including conversion experiences

A
  • james not satisfied w/ attempt to dismiss as hallutionations
  • unlike hallutionations RE have positive and life changing effects - can be observed
  • argues validity of experience depends on those effects
  • pragmatist = if good for us or works, that is evidence of its truth
  • e.g. alcoholic giving up alcohol after RE, gained power they lacked before - comes from higher spiritual reality.
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17
Q

William James

James of conversion experiences

A
  • They’re strong example of his point about the life-changing impact
  • viewed them as transformations from imperfecr self w/ guilty conscience to more unified happy state.
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18
Q

William James

Counter to James’ pragmatic argument

A
  • a hallucination can be life-changing if it fits with the beliefs of the person - even if may not be real.
  • e.g. aetheisy hallucinats walking down road.
  • reason for being life changing = only bc their beilefs are its significant which their own mind supplies
  • not from spiritual realtiy, just hallucinations.
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19
Q

Rudolf Otto dates

A

1869-1937

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20
Q

Rudolf Otto book

A

‘The idea of the holy’

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21
Q

Numinous defintion

A

having a strong religious or spititual quaility OR indicating or suggesting the presence of a divinity.

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22
Q

Who was Rudolf Otto?

A
  • germa sholar
  • core of religion according to him = numinious
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23
Q

Rudolf Ottos latin phrase for ‘a human being who experiences God, experiences the Holy’

A

‘mysterium tremendom et fascinans’

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24
Q

Rudolf Otto on religious experience

A
  • in encounter, human soul in awe, humbled + speachless, made aware of own unholiness.
  • uses e.g. storm which partially destroyed a bridge, when people come out after storm - eerie silence + awe ate power of nature.
  • fundermental to religion that individuals have sense of personal encounter w/ Natural forces
  • ‘mysterium tremendom et fascinans’
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25
Q

Who was F.C. Happold?

A

British philospher

26
Q

F.C. Happold dates

A

1903-1996

27
Q

F.C. Happold book

A

‘Mysticism: A study and an Anthology’

28
Q

F.c. Happold on religious experiences

A
  • argues can be seen as universal human experience.
  • transend religious boundaries + provide direct connection w/ divine
  • emphasises transformative nature of them, leads to profound personal growth, increased compassion + heighted spiritual awareness.
  • challenged that RE exclusive to particular religion - more universal and understanding.
29
Q

Richard Swineburne dates

A

1934-present

30
Q

Richard Swineburne

Richard Swineburne book

A

“the existance of God”

31
Q

Richard Swineburne

2 groups of experinece outlined in his book

A
  1. public = perceiving perfectly normal phenomenon (eg. a sunset) but interpreting it religiously OR perceiving very unusual public object (eg. the resurrection) which invites a supernatural interpretation.
  2. private = experience which can be described using everyday language (eg. a dream) OR experience cannot be described using everyday language (eg. a mystical experience) OR conviction that God has been experienced in someway despite lack of material evidence (eg. a sense of forgiveness or redemption)
32
Q

Swineburn quote

A

“it is a principle of rationality that (in the absence of special considerations) if it seems (epistemically) to a subject that χ is present, then probably χ is present; what one seems to perceive is probably so”

33
Q

Richard Swineburne

approach

A
  • evidence based
  • RE can be evidence as long as it survives standard empirical
34
Q

Richard Swineburne

approach applied to religious experience

A
  • evidence of religious experience must then be subject to scrutiny and testing just like any other evidence for anything else would be
  • If we have other better-established evidence which contradicts the evidence of a religious experience, then we are rationally justified in dismissing it and not regarding it as evidence for God.
  • Without such counter-evidence, however, it is irrational to dismiss a religious experience.
35
Q

Richard Swinburne

The principle of credulity

A

argues that you should believe what you experience unless you have a reason not to.

36
Q

Richard Swinburne

The principle of testimony

A

argues that you should believe what others tell you they have experienced, unless you have a reason not to.

37
Q

Richard Swinburne

concequence of his theory

A
  • would reject alot of RE
  • could be caused by someone being a well-known liar, or psychological/physiological influences.
  • if there is naturalistic cause of RE e.g. drugs or mental illness - evidence against their experience
38
Q

RICHARD SWINBURNE

criticism

A

extraordinary claims require etraordinary evidnce
* is a mere experience of God sifficient enough to justift belief in God?
* Arguably the existence of God is an extraordinary claim which therefore might require extraordinary evidence.

39
Q

Sigmund Freud

Freud as scientific psychological challenge to RE

A
  • Religion = ‘obsessional neurosis’ - ultimateley derived from fear of death (instinctual animalistic fear) + desire to be child forever (hence why God = ‘father’) - desire for eternal innocence
  • believed these reasons resuled in delusions which could explain RE.
40
Q

Freud

Mirage

A

= a person lost in a desert can be so desparate for water that they hallucinate it.
∴ fear of death + difficulties of life - delude themselves that God will take are of them in the afterlife.

41
Q

Criticism - religious response

A
  • Freuds analysis failed to explain mystical RE bc of its sense of unity with something infinite + unbounded.
  • mystical experiences are estatic, immersive + unlike odinary sense experience - harder to dismiss as hallucinations caused by delusory wishful thinking.
42
Q

Freud evaluation

A
  • he admitted it was hard to challenge this
  • response: intense mystical experinces are actually reliving of childhood experinces before ego or ‘self’ had formed
  • so explains dissolving of sense of self + resultant untiy w everything in mystical experience.
  • reliving experinces of selflessness is a feature of mind + later became to be arbitrarily associate w, religion but in essence has nothing to do w/ it
43
Q

Counter-evaluation

A
  • Freud’s account of religion is unscientific, overgeneralised + overly-reductive
  • plenty of nen-neurotic religious ppl.
  • problem w/ psychological arguements as cant be true for all, who it doesn’t work for = they can’t explain them.
44
Q

Freud critisicms

A
  • too unempirical in his methods for his theories to count as real science
  • small samples so dont represent society
  • no method of experiment
  • popper: freuds theories were falsifable
45
Q

Conversion experience

definition

A

those which influence a person to join a religion

46
Q

Conversion experience example

A
  • St. Paul - Jew called Saul who persecuted Christians
  • on road to Damascus, had experience which converted him to Christianity
  • Changed name to Paul + became Apsotle, spreading Christian faith
47
Q

Defence of conversion experience from Freud

A
  • conversion experiences from one religion to another can’t be explained away as wishful thinking or a fear of death.
  • The person having the experience already believed in a God and an afterlife, so whatever wishful thinking for an afterlife they might have had would already have been satisfied by the religious beliefs of the religion they were already in.
  • E.g. St Paul on the road to Damascus saw Jesus and was converted from a Jewish persecutor of Christianity to a Christian.
48
Q

corporate experiences

A

multiple people all have same religious experience together.

49
Q

Pentacostalism

A

Christian denomination inspired by corporate experience.
focuses on intense shared worship, often including speaking in ‘tongues’.
“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues” – Acts 2:3

50
Q

Experiencing God directly

old testiment

A
  • early on indivuals are patriarchs who encounter god directly
  • later on they are prophets who encounter god more indirectly + speak to ppl of israel on his behalf
  • eg moses in book of Exodus
  • theophany=god present to humans
51
Q

Experiencing God directly

New testement

A
  • ‘in past god spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at various times+in many ways, but these last days he spoken to us through his son’ Hebrews 1:1-2
  • view the life + teachings of jesus as final revelation of god to man = ultimate theophany.
52
Q

Experiencing God directly

Heretical christians

A
  • rejected by mainstream church bc of their claims to recieve direct communication from god.
  • in ancient times the montanists were such a sect
  • in 18th century=quakers
53
Q

Mysticism

A

where an indiidual feels a sense of unity woth the divine.
- involved spititual recorgnision of truths beyond normal understanding

54
Q

Second Vatican Council on mysticism

A

1962 declared it as part of general call to holiness + avalible to all believers

55
Q

Hans Küng on mysticism

A
  • explains as closing the senses to outside world + ‘dissolving’ of solf.
  • believes reaction against organised religion as thats EXTERNAL like rituals and formal prayers, whereas mysticism empahasis INTERNAL + personal side to religion
56
Q

Famous mystics

St Theresa of Avila

A
  • born Spain 1515
  • Nun - raised as very spititual girl
  • became nun → ill w/ malaria → intense physical pain → experience divine visions + inner sens eof peace
  • set up own monastry focused on humility
  • visions gave peace + claimed gave her knowledge about nature of God
57
Q

Mystercism evaluation

A
  • cannot be verified by objective empirical testing.
  • cannot carry out scientific testing,experiement.
58
Q

Persinger’s physiological challenge to religious experience

A
  • neuroscientist, created ‘God helmet’ = physiologically manipulated ppls brain waves + sometimes casued RE (felt presence of unseen beings).
  • shows RE originate from brain, not supernatural.
  • RE = just unusual state of brain, could just be caused by some unknown brain process.
59
Q

Religious response to Persinger’s physiological challenge

A
  • maybe that brain manipulation is simply the mechanism by which God creates RE
  • can cause hallucinations induced by drugs, so doesn’t count towards validity of RE that occour w/ out such manipulations.
60
Q

Persinger - evaluation

A
  • demonstrates RE could have naturalistic explaination ∴ supernatural explainations = unnecesary.
  • God helmet cannot rule out the possibility of supernatural causes for regular religious experiences. - can show naturalistic cause.
  • Ockham’s razor. The naturalistic explanation is the simpler option.

RE: Philosophy (10 decks)

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