Religious Experience

Religious Experience

1. William James

   • set out to study RE through scientific investigation by comparing reports for common feautures
   • Main arguments:
     • 1.The spiritual value of RE isn't undone even if we can find a psychological explanation
     • 2.there isn't a single feature of RE that defines it
       • "a sense of reality, a feeling of an objective presence, a perception of what we may call something there"
     • 3. great religious figures can set patterns for people to study and learn from
     • 4.REs are more important as a focus of study than religious practise/ institutions
   • Four Main qualities of RE
     • 1.Ineffability-impossiable to express using normal language
     • 2.Noetic quality-gives the person understanding of important truths
     • 3.Transience- RE is short but the effects are lasting
     • 4.Passivity-feels as if the experience is being controlled outside of themselves and they are the recipients

2. Swinburne's Credulity/Testimony

   • we usually accept what other people tell us about their experiences
   • credulity- experience is normally reliable, and the balance of probability says experience can be trusted
   • Testimony- usually people tell the truth/ we can believe what we are told
   • "if it seems like x is present, then x is probably present."
     • This doesn't apply in the negative, "if it seems like x is absent, x is probably absent" he rejects