The religious point of view

'Seeing'
1. a star - i see a silvery speck no bigger than a 5p piece
2. We record what is actually being observed, bring little knowledge to the observation
'Seeing as'
1. a star - i see a distant star which has an extension greater than that of the earth
2. What we perceived is identified and classified in terms of our knowledge of stars - informed by our understanding
From this Austen concludes that raw data supplied by senses can be seen in many different ways, and so there is no one right way of saying what is seen
1. For example one person may see a motion picture while another may see a series of carefully drawn stills, run in quick succession
Hick said that religious differs from non religious experience, as a different way of experiencing the same world
1. Events can be experienced as having a purely natural significance are experienced by the religious mind as mediating the presence and activity of God
Descartes hats, cloaks and umbrellas - judge to be humans from appearances; mind organises data according to expectations an concepts that we have already gained from experience
Perceptual experiencing as: Hick develops analogy between perception and experience of god.
1. Perception is not registering what is out there neutrally
  1. E.g. necker cube- one set of lines can be seen in two ways or see patterns in neutral objects such as clouds
  2. Can argue that all seeing involves seeing aas e.g. see a book as a book, someone from different culture wont have this concept and maybe see it as a clump of paper.
    1. Perception on this account involves recognition - never neutral and our concepts are always involved
2. Hick therefore argues that religious experience is a kind of experiencing as
  1. A religious person experiences life as an encounter with god as well as experiencing other people and physical world. Different layer of experiencing as - a perspective on life and the world that non religious person does not have
3. But are they really analogous? Is religious experience not simply a subjective projection of religious meaning onto natural events
  1. Hick admits there are disanalogies: e.g. religious experience isnt sensory perception and we arent perceiving types of objects but the significance of events
    1. However there is an important continuity
      1. 1) perception involves making sense of what we see -how we respond to it e.g. when i see an object as a fork - involves an appropriate response to how we are disposed to act in relation to it. know a fork is an everyday mundane object used to eat with- contrast to bear
        Shouldnt think therefore that we can contrast religious experience as a projection with neutral perceptual experience - no experience is neutral
      2. 2) we dont recognise objects we recognise situations; shown by immediate responses e.g. having a sense of god when observing the beauty of the world involves a change in the how we're disposed to act
        E.g. seeing someone hanging off cliff instigates moral response to help them - situation of moral significance
        Religious experience is a matter of recognising the religious significance of events or situations - how we respond to them e.g. having sense of god when observing beauty of natural world. Religious response not optional extra - same for religious person to experience the world this way as it is for someone to experience a fork
4. Can still say analogy doesnt work - we do not need to accept that all recognition is similar to perceptual recognition. if we recognising religious significance of an event was similar to recognising a fork, when we can ask hat sense do we use when we detect apparent religious significance
Religious hypothesis
1. A hypothesis is 'a proposal that needs to be tested by experience',
2. Religious hypothesis 'God exists'
  1. Can it be tested empirically? For it to be a hypothesis would have to imagine conditions under which we could say it was not a fact
    1. E.g. theory of evolution would be given up if aliens came to earth and shown us they planted the fossils they made
  2. Hick argues not a hypothesis because we experience god directly - human life is an encounter with god, no more a hypothesis than 'this is a fork'
    1. Say argument still applies, can imagine situations that would lead us to say 'this is not a fork' e.g if fork were hologram or illusion
      1. By same logic what would lead us to say that human life isnt an encounter with god? - nothing present that means one has to withdraw ones claim about encountering god in life. - suggests that 'god exists' is not something we can directly know from experience
        This argument assumes that for 'god exists' to state a fact, we have to know how to test whether true or false against experience. Or could argue that meaning of 'god exists' related to very process of making sense of facts - not scientific hypothesis but still hypothesis. Or just subjective opinion because from how people experience human life
Religious belief mirrors attitudes mirrors attitudes rather than feelings
1. All arguments so far understood 'god exists' as statement of fact - but cannot be tested against empirical evidence + religious belief is not purely intellectual - no truth to work out to know 'god exists' - so how can be a statement of fact?
2. When someone converts to religion their will, not intellectual beliefs, changes or values. Person does not suddenly change views on science and what they KNOW to be true - just has a different scale of importance
  1. Therefore argue that religious belief isnt form of belief
    1. Religion is about how someone lives their life; therefore say that religious beliefs are expressions of attitudes and commitments of ones religion in order to mature spiritually. Are a whole set of beliefs - indicate a way of life
3. more than just commitment to way of life in religious beliefs - does it matter what they beleive?
4. Religious beliefs relate to specific stories or myths - makes it about facts but stories do not need to be believed to be true - need to get moral message from them

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	Created by lauren_walji almost 11 years ago