Philo Lec6: Mysticism
Mysticismreligious empiricism (experience based knowledge)
• Problem: if they are trying to convince us if there’s sth worth to pursuit
• Conformation of mystic report lifetime of labour they reach pinnacle of experience, outcome from great trials
o Difficult time doubling of experience, foggy language, they don’t suppose they will have encounter with God in this life, or defer it to later time
• Dawkin – lack insider understanding of religion, religion not just about faith, religion devoted their life find their religious (monastery), direct their life to direct experience (monks – devout life to contemplation of God)
o Monk – you can’t actually believe God unless you have experiential aspect to it (special founder & imitiation of Jesus) – imply that he is the model for Christian
In some sense have to have experience
Jumping to conclusion from vague data
• Problem of mystic
o It’s private, one can experience the experience vividly, other may not feel it
o Transcendent, privacy of the experience make it diff from sensual experience
o Always subject to objection unless have experience about it
Mystic connect to language
o Experience so diffly that’s hard to describe or repeat like the scientific empiricism
Alston
Experiential Basis of Theism
Main conclusioncertain types of quasi-perceptual experiences can give an indiv good reason to believe in God
• Doxastic practice = forming particular belief about God’s presence & activity in our lives on the basis of theistic experience
Natural Theology vs. Experience of God
Theistic experiencerange over all experience that are taken by the experience to be an awareness of God (where God is thought of theistically)
• No restriction on its phenomenal QL
o Loss of conscious self-identity in the mystical unity w/ God
o Vision & voices
o Awareness of God thru experience of nature, world of Bible or interaction w/ other
o Background sense of God’s presence, sustaining...
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