Kalenzi, Paul (2010) Non-Sensory Perception in Christian Mystical Experience. Masters thesis, Arrupe College.
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Paul Kalenzi MA Phil dissertation July 2010.pdf - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (1MB) | Request a copy |
Abstract
What is to be made of knowledge claims regarding immaterial entities allegedly encountered in mystical experience? The materialist impulse is to repudiate them, along with clairvoyance,telepathy, astrology and other supernatural knowledge claims, as dubious. And yet for many people, across historical epochs and world cultures, the mystical experience has been a source of justification for religious beliefs. I aim to investigate the nature of one kind of mystical experience – the illuminative mystical experience – and the relationship it bears to religious beliefs in the Western Christian tradition. It has been asserted, by mystics themselves and by philosophers such as William P. Alston, that the experience is perceptual even though, in some cases, it is devoid of sensation. I examine this view and propose that “non-sensory perception” is best explained as an “introspective encounter” with a reality (or the Reality) distinct from the self. If mystical experience is a valid form of perception, it would be expected to lead to the formation of beliefs regarding the object perceived. Many mystics, in the Christian tradition at least, consider themselves justified in identifying the object of perception in mystical experience as God. I consider whether this conclusion is warranted given the evidence available to the mystic. I take into account materialist and other kinds of objections that may be offered to my proposal that illuminative mystical experience (IME) can be an introspective awareness of supernatural mind-independent realities such as God.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | CHRISTIAN MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE,NON-SENSORY PERCEPTION, SPIRITUALITY |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BH Aesthetics |
| Divisions: | Jesuitica |
| Depositing User: | Mr Christopher Mapunda |
| Date Deposited: | 07 Apr 2016 06:31 |
| Last Modified: | 16 Mar 2018 12:28 |
| URI: | http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/319 |
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