3C: Challenges

Question 1

What does authentic mean in regards to REs?

Answer 1

is the experience real?

Question 2

What does objectivity mean in regards to REs?

Answer 2

is the experience of an external object? or is it merely reflective of a subjective state of mind?

Question 3

What does verdical mean?

Answer 3

a real experience of a real reality

Question 4

What is the name of CFD’s book?

Answer 4

‘The Evidential Force of Religious Experience’

Question 5

What is the key point to remember of CFD’s challenges?

Answer 5

She is not trying to disprove REs: just reviewing different challenges to respond to them

Question 6

What are CFD’s 3 categories of challenge?

Answer 6

Description, subject, object

Question 7

What does CFD believe in regards to REs?

Answer 7

they have evidential force and can be used to suggest God exists

Question 8

What is the description related challenge?

Answer 8

the description is self
contradicting or inconsistent

Question 9

What are some examples of description related challenge?

Answer 9

• there might be logical inconsistencies e.g ToA “saw” Christ at her side but didn’t “see” him. more experienced him
• often REs involve a God revealed in terms of a persons cultural background. e.g Christians see god as a trinity, but Judaism and Hinduism see God as a unity
• some seem highly implausible e.g
  Yorkshire Ripper claimed the voice of God told him to commit murder; would an omnibenevolent creator really ask for this?
• there is no way to verify or falsify the experience, so some philosophers claim they’re meaningless

Question 10

What are CFD’s responses to description related challenges?

Answer 10

• numinous experiences are similar across different religions, many similarities between claims of mystics in different traditions. e.g Mary, Moses, Muhammed
• if god is ineffable, we would expect paradox when explaining the experience
• conflicting claims can be resolved because different worldviews will express things using different conceptions

Question 11

What is the subject related challenge?

Answer 11

challenge something about the person claiming to have the experience

Question 12

What are some examples of subject related challenge?

Answer 12

• inconsistencies between subjects actual behaviour and the behaviour expected of someone who claimed to have the experience
• unreliable person (eg known liar)
• unreliable memory
• doubtful state of the person at the time they had the experience (e.g lack of sleep, drugs)
• dreams, visions and hallucinations are generally regarded as unreliable as they are prompted by an altered state of mind

Question 13

What are CFD’s responses to subject related challenges?

Answer 13

• James, many mystics live out the
  “fruits” of RE
• REs aren’t that uncommon, many good and wise people have reported them
• apply Swinburne’s principles of credulity and testimony: we usually trust our experiences and usually trust other people unless there’s a good reason not to. “we shouldn’t get into a skeptical bog”

Question 14

What scholars are related to subject related challenges and what do they say?

Answer 14

• Hume: “extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence”
• Freud; REs are claimed by those who are psychologically weak and in need of psychotherapy
• Ayer: REs are merely expressive of someone’s state of mind
• Mackie: to trust testimony of people is negligent. people many tend to be trustworthy but they could easily be mistaken or misinterpret something incorrectly

Question 15

What is the object related challenge?

Answer 15

• challenge whether it’s possible to have an experience of god
• if based on background evidence it is highly unlikely the thing claimed to be experience happened, the claim might be dismissed.

Question 16

What are some examples of object related challenge?

Answer 16

• the entities in the experience are improbable e.g a god commanding somebody to murder someone (Yorkshire Ripper) or a claim that god doesn’t exist so cannot be experienced
• other people present did not perceive anything e.g ToA - floating angel

Question 17

What are CFD’s responses to object related challenges?

Answer 17

• some claimed experiences may be improbable if taken individually, however if taken together we can see a cumulative case for a certain type of God
• although claims might not convince an atheist, they may have weight within a religious community

Question 18

What scholars are related to object related challenges and what do they say?

Answer 18

• Freud: since there’s no god, REs are illusions
• Flew: claims such as “I saw the risen Jesus” can neither be proven right or wrong, so trusting the language of the individual testimony is ridiculous

Question 19

What is the vicious cycle? (include scholar)

Answer 19

• Flew: the nature of the RE depends on the background of the one having the experience.

Question 20

Why does CFD reject the vicious cycle?

Answer 20

• A person from one tradition will use the language and ideas of their tradition to explain the experience
• this makes the assertion that one can strip away the description and arrive at a common core of meanings.

Question 21

What is the psychological challenge?

Answer 21

• Freud: there is no need to believe god causes such experiences because they are psychologically explainable
• when someone claims to have a RE, they are just experiencing their ego. there is no external referent

Question 22

How does CFD object to the psychological challenge?

Answer 22

Not all REs can be explained, there may be an unexplained residue which could point to an external referent. a believer could maintain that god works through psychology

Question 23

What is the name of Swinburne’s book?

Answer 23

‘The Existence of God’

Question 24

What are Swinburne’s two types of public experience?

Answer 24

Ordinary and extraordinary

Question 25

What is an ordinary public experience?

Answer 25

When someone interprets a natural
event as having religious significance (e.g the beauty of nature, a nice sunset)

Question 26

What is an extraordinary public experience?

Answer 26

appears to violate normal understandings of the workings of nature. (e.g Jesus turning water to wine in Cana)

Question 27

What are Swinburne’s 3 types of private experiences?

Answer 27

1. describable in ordinary language
2. non describable
3. non specific experience

Question 28

What is a describable private experience?

Answer 28

• Can be described verbally: experiences such as dreams. (e.g
  Joseph’s dream, god tells him to flee to Egypt)

Question 29

What is a non describable private experience?

Answer 29

refers to a direct experience of god, where he is revealed to people: ineffable

Question 30

What is a non specific private experience?

Answer 30

looking at the world from a religious perspective e.g seeing the intricacy of god the creator in the universe

Question 31

What is Swinburne’s principle of credulity?

Answer 31

• the willingness to believe something unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.
• example of evidence: someone under the influence of drugs

Question 32

What is Swinburne’s principle of testimony?

Answer 32

unless there is positive evidence that they are misremembering/are untrustworthy, we should believe the testimony

Question 33

What is a quote by Swinburne in regards to the principle of testimony?

Answer 33

“we usually think that what others tell us that they perceived, probably happened”