religious experience

Question 1

ineffable

Answer 1

experience beyond language and cant be put into words to describe

Question 2

noetic

Answer 2

knowledge or insight thats gained

Question 3

transient

Answer 3

experience is temporary

Question 4

passive

Answer 4

experience happens to person and person doesnt make experience happen

Question 5

james description of mystical experience

Answer 5

defies expression that no adequate report of its contents can be given in words

Question 6

james pluralist argument

Answer 6

must be explanation to why 4 criteria in all experiences across cultures
-cant be by chance

Question 7

whats james explanation for RE

Answer 7

higher spiritual reality
-W.Stace writer developed this claiming universality of certain features of RE evidence they are real

Question 8

what does james conclude about RE

Answer 8

Mystical experiences core of religion and teaching and practices are second hand religion
-makes james view pluralist that all religions are true

Question 9

Paul knitter pluralist view

Answer 9

metaphor of religion
-each religion is a well
-if you get to bottom of well and water you realise water is also sourcing all other wells
-well is mystical experience and bottom of wells other religions

Question 10

alternative explanation to james pluralist view

Answer 10

-cross similarity have naturalistic explanations
-could be all human brains hallucinate similarly because they evolved similarily
-RE serve a universal psychological function Jung
-without need of higher spiritual reality

Question 11

james on why RE are not hallucinations

Answer 11

RE can have positive and big life changing effects which we can observe
-not hallucniations

Question 12

James epistemology

Answer 12

pragmatist- if something good for us works then its evidence of its truth
-most interested in effects of RE and argued validity depends on those effects

Question 13

James and alcoholic case study

Answer 13

-was unable to give up alcohol
-had RE and gave it up
-after RE he gained power which lacked before
-evidence for experience that came from higher spiritual reality

Question 14

James on conversion experiences

Answer 14

conversions example of life changing impact of RE
-viewed conversion as transformation from unhappy divided to unified happy

Question 15

counter to James pragmatic view

Answer 15

-if hallucination happens to fit certain beliefs person might have then might be life changing even if its not real
-reason for life changing only because of beliefs
-not from higher spiritual reality but hallucination- ockams razor

Question 16

swinburne and RE

Answer 16

evidence analysis based approach
-RE can justify belief in god as long as it survives standard empirical testing

Question 17

Swinburne principle of rationality

Answer 17

if we experience something or someone tells us they have experienced something then thats evidence for that thing probably being true

Question 18

swinburne principle of credulity

Answer 18

-argues you should believe what you experience unless you have reason not to

Question 19

swinburne principle of testimony

Answer 19

you should believe what others tell you they have experienced unless you have a reason not to

Question 20

consequence of swinburnes theory

Answer 20

-rejects a lot of RE
-many RE caused by someone being a liar or psychological influences
-cases with naturalistic explanations for RE

Question 21

counter to swinburnes theory

Answer 21

-is experience of god enough to justify belief in god
-need extraordinary evidence for extraordinary claim

Question 22

what does freud call religion

Answer 22

obsessional neurosis thats derived from 2 main psychological factors

Question 23

what are the 2 main psychological factors religion is derived from (Freud)

Answer 23

-fear of death- instinctual animalistic fear of death cant control but control out human cognition, so we trigger fear of death on animalistic side
-solution to believe death not end
2- innocence- christians call god father because they want to be a child and innocent forever

Question 24

mirage and humans delusions for religion

Answer 24

-person lost in desert desperate for water so they hallucinate it
-likewise humans desperately afraid of death so delude thinking of caring god and afterlife

Question 25

counter- frueds analysis fails to explain mystical RE

Answer 25

-because it sense of unity with something infinite and unbounded -freuds theory might work against visions but mystical are ecstatic, immersive - harder to dismiss as hallucinations caused by delusory wishful thinking

Question 26

evaluation to counter of freud

Answer 26

he argues intense mystical experiences are reliving childhood experiences before ego had formed -explains dissolving sense of self and resultant unity with everything in mystical experiences -reliving experiences of selflessness -

Question 27

counter- evaluation

Answer 27

plenty of non neurotic religious people -psychological arguments may be true for a lot but not for even one person -freud unempirical as small sample and Popper argues freuds theories were unfalsifiable

Question 28

persingers challenge to RE

Answer 28

gives physiological challenge to RE

Question 29

persingers god helmet

Answer 29

-created god helmet which physiologically manipulated peoples brain waves and sometimes caused them to have RE where they felt presence of unseen beings

Question 30

what are RE for persinger

Answer 30

originate from brain -experiences just an unusual state of the brain =regular RE caused by unknown brain processes without a machine

Question 31

religious response to persinger

Answer 31

-brain manipulation mechanism by which god created RE -hallucinations manipulating brain with drugs like LSD -doesnt count against validity of RE that occur without manipulations

Question 32

evaluation of persinger

Answer 32

persinger demonstrates RE could have naturalistic explanations -god helmet cannot rule out supernatural causes -ockhams razor- simpler so if RE have naturalistic explanation then no need for supernatural cause

Question 33

what are conversion experiences

Answer 33

influence a person to join a religion -any type of RE could be conversion experience

Question 34

St pauls conversion experience

Answer 34

road to damascus -converted to christianity -jesus said saul why do you persecute me -he said who are you and jesus said its me who your persecuting

Question 35

freud on conversion experiences

Answer 35

freuds psychological critique applied to conversion experiences

Question 36

defence of conversion experiences from Freud

Answer 36

-conversion experiences from one religion to another not wishful thinking or fear of death -person having experience already believed in god so wishful thinking of afterlife already satisfied by current religion

Question 37

what are corporate RE

Answer 37

-multiple people have RE together -acts 2:3- all of them were filled with HS and began to speak tongues

Question 38

toronto blessing

Answer 38

-HS triggered forms of worship and being possesed by HS -

Question 39

pentacostalism

Answer 39

focus on intense shared worship -speaking in tongues -form of corporate RE

Question 40

psychological group dynamics as criticism to corporate RE -

Answer 40

-mass hysteria and social compliance -religious mania -example of people who think they have seen aliens -group delusion possible not caused by higher power- ockhams razor

Question 41

multiple claims issue

Answer 41

-RE have evidence against them and since not all religions cant be true- RE about different religions conflict with each other -if all religions have RE and most religions cant be true then generally unreliable RE

Question 42

multiple claim issue 2

Answer 42

-evidence for one religion must be taken as evidence against all of others -claiming RE is evidence for a particular religious belief only creates more evidence against it

Question 43

pluralism response to multiple claims issue

Answer 43

-James and hick think mystical RE occuring in all religions and being life changing show they are true in pragmatic sense -different religions like blind men touching different part of elephant