Rex 2

Question 1

Kant’s opinions on religious experiences

Answer 1

objects - problem of interpretation

Question 2

why does kant object religious experiences

Answer 2

he is a materialist

we can only experience things in the physical world

if another realm exists, we can’t experience it

Question 3

Hick’s view on religious experience

Answer 3

favours it, it’s valid for the individual

every experience we have is a private subjective interpretation which has equal validity to that of anything else

Question 4

Who’s idea does Hick build on

Answer 4

Wittgenstein’s idea of perception

Question 5

what is Wittgenstein’s idea of perception

Answer 5

people see things differently depending on how they interpret what’s infront of them

Question 6

what illusion does Hick use

Answer 6

duck/rabbit illusion

Question 7

what did Wittgenstein draw a distinction between

Answer 7

‘seeing’ and ‘seeing as’

we ‘see’ shapes, lines, textures

we identify what we are looking at as ‘seeing as’

Question 8

what does Hick expand on and how

Answer 8

Wittgenstein’s distinction between ‘seeing’ and ‘seeing as’

he applies it to all senses

we we are experiencing the world, we are ‘experiencing as’

Question 9

What does Hick’s view link to and why

Answer 9

Hare and Bliks
because our experience of reality is shaped by our beliefs, culture and upbringing
+
the way we experience it is shaped by our beliefs, culture and upbringing

religious experience is a type of ‘experiencing as’

Question 10

how does ‘experiencing as’ link to religious experiences (Hick)
+ e.g.

Answer 10

the religious person experiences human life and history as an encounter with God
as well as the physical world and other people

e.g. thanking God for the kindness of another human, linking it to an experience with God

Question 11

Dawkins quote about religious experience

Answer 11

if we are gullible, we don’t recognise hallucinations and lucid dreaming for what it is and we claim to have heard or seen a ghost or an angel or God

Question 12

Dawkins’ view on religious experience

Answer 12

if we understand mental illness, we should reject religious experience
compared religious experience with psychosis

Question 13

what does Dawkins agree with

Answer 13

psychological and physiological responses

Question 14

religious experience as an argument for the existence of God P1

Answer 14

there are compelling reasons for believed that claims of religious experience point to, and validate spiritual realities that exists in a way that transcends material manifestation

Question 15

religious experience as an argument for the existence of God P2

Answer 15

according to materialism, nothing exists in a way which transcends material manifestation

Question 16

religious experience as an argument for the existence of God P3

Answer 16

according to classical theism, god endows human beings with the ability to perceive -although imperfectly -
religious, spiritual, and/or transcendent realities
through religious, spiritual, and/or transcendent experiences

Question 17

religious experience as an argument for the existence of God C

Answer 17

therefore, to the extent that P1 is accepted, theism is more plausible than materialism

Question 18

What’s Swinburne’s justification for religious experience

Answer 18

an omnipotent, omnibenevolent God would seek to interact with his creation

Question 19

what does Swinburne use to deal with issues of verification

Answer 19

5 part classification

Question 20

what is Swinburne’s 5 part classification

Answer 20

common public sensory object

uncommon public sensory object

through a private object that can be described empirically

through a private object that can’t be described empirically

non mediated through any empirical object

Question 21

what do the first three of Swinburne’s 5 part classification have in common

Answer 21

mysticism, empirical nature, cognitive

Question 22

what do the last 2 of Swinburne’s 5 part classification have in common

Answer 22

no empirical nature, purely non-cognitive

Question 23

what is examples for the first three of Swinburne’s 5 part classification

Answer 23

common public sensory object - e.g. sunset

uncommon public sensory object - e.g. Moses and the burning bush

through a private object that can be described empirically - e.g. Peter seeing animal filled cloth

Question 24

what is examples for the last 2 of Swinburne’s 5 part classification

Answer 24

through a private object that can’t be described empirically - e.g. teresa of Avila and penetrating sword

non mediated through any empirical object - e.g. Nicholas of Cusa perceiving God as a non-bodily spirit

Question 25

why should religious experience be valid for Swinburne

Answer 25

principle of credulity - our experience is normally reliable

principle of testimony - people normally tell the truth

Question 26

weakness of principle of credulity and principle of testimony

Answer 26

intoxication, mental illness

Question 27

what is Swinburne’s cumulative argument

Answer 27

one argument on it’s own does not really prove God’s existence, but putting them together makes an undeniable one

Question 28

who opposes Swinburne’s cumulative argument and how

Answer 28

Flew’s leaky bucket argument

stacking a load of leaky buckets doesn’t make a bucket fine - putting together a load of weak arguments doesn’t make it strong

Question 29

for religious experience

Answer 29

Schleiermacher
Saul’s conversion
Hick - Wittgenstein, Hare
Swinburne

Question 30

Against religious experience

Answer 30

Feuerbach
Freud
Jung
Physiological explanations
Persinger - Granqvist
Kant
Dawkins