Philosophy 1600 - Honors Seminar

 

Topic 6: Religious Experience and the Existence of God

C. D. Broad on the Argument from Religious Experience

1. Broad's Three Comparisons

Broad suggests three sorts of situations that one might compare religious experiences with:

(1)  The case of the trained microscopist who can see cell structures that untrained people cannot;

(2)  The case of the drunk who sees visions of snakes and rats while suffering from delirium tremens;

(3)  The case of the person who can see in a world where everyone else, or almost everyone else, is blind.

Comments

1.  There is a fourth case that is crucial, given the lack of content involved in mystical experiences, and the presence of an emotion tone:

(4)  The case of experiences with a similar feeling or experiential tone - for example, the experience of being drunk.

2.  Broad does not bring in the idea of inference to the best explanation in a clear way, and so the importance of extensive correlations does not emerge.

2. Broad on the Psychology of Mystical Experience

1.  Broad, like James, seems to concede that pathological factors may well accompany religious experience.

2.  Broad also seems willing to grant that a capacity for strong sexual feeling may be a necessary condition of religious experience.

3.  Broad does not think that either fact is especially damaging with regard to the claim that mystical experiences provide one with knowledge of reality.