physiological factors

Question 1

strength: similar experiences can be reproduced with electro-magnetic fields

Answer 1

or temporal lobe epilepsy, so they cannot have a supernatural cause. simply the functioning of the physical brain not interaction with god

Question 2

strength: st paul

Answer 2

could have been suffering from epilepsy or sunstroke. this is a physiological explanation for his religious conversion experience

Question 3

strength: Bertrand Russell

Answer 3

scientific investigation concludes there’s ‘no distinction between a man who eats a little and sees God and the man who drinks much and sees snakes.’ some religious experiences such as voices or visions linked to fasting, vitamin deficiencies or substance abuse

Question 4

weakness: God would interact with humans

Answer 4

if god interacted with humans its conceivable that he would use natural physical and neurological processes, like those in the brain. even if we can track these processes it could still be god interacting with us

Question 5

weakness: reductionist to reduce all human activity and experiences to the material

Answer 5

materialism cannot fully explain the sense of ‘other’ found in the variety of experiences James recorded

Question 6

weakness: difficult to explain the long-lasting, radical changes in a person’s character

Answer 6

difficult to explain them simply as the result of neurological activity. James would support this with empiricism, pragmatism and also the ‘fruits’