Questions tagged [experience]
46 questions
11
votes
6 answers
Can private experiences justify private belief in supernaturalism?
Is it ever rational or justified to believe in supernaturalism on the basis of private experiences (of the kind for which publicly accesible evidence can hardly be produced)? If someone has private experiences that make supernaturalism self-evident…
user66156
10
votes
13 answers
Can religious, mystical, or spiritual experiences reveal truth?
To what extent can we acquire reliable knowledge about the world through religious, mystical, or spiritual experiences?
Does the answer hinge on the context of these experiences?
Does the answer hinge on the specific religious framework these…
user66156
8
votes
10 answers
Should we only take seriously hypotheses that, if true, would have detectable effects on the world?
In light of this recent question comparing God and fairies, I found Lowri's answer compelling, as it upholds the idea that we shouldn't care about a hypothesis unless it has detectable effects on the world, which intuitively seems quite reasonable…
user92624
7
votes
7 answers
To what extent is intersubjective agreement required for one to be justified in trusting one's own subjective experiences?
Context: this is a follow-up to my last question Is the hallucination hypothesis always the best explanation?
Suppose A has a subjective experience (or multiple subjective experiences) that leads them to believe in the existence of X (they claim to…
user66156
6
votes
7 answers
Are "aesthetic experiences" limited to art and music?
I was wondering whether philosophers consider aesthetic experiences to be something that permeate through a range of day to day experiences or if they're limited to art.
For example, can learning/realisation be considered an aesthetic experience…
Jim stoke
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6
votes
5 answers
Is the hallucination hypothesis always the best explanation?
Suppose there are two persons A and B.
A attests to having witnessed some extraordinary event, e.g. A claims to have had an extraordinary religious experience with an other-worldly entity. Let's say for the sake of argument that A is sincere.
B, on…
user66156
5
votes
2 answers
Belief, in 'divine madness'
Theia mania (Ancient Greek: θεία μανία) is a term used by Plato in his dialogue Phaedrus to describe a condition of divine madness (unusual behavior attributed to the intervention of a God).
Do people who claim to experience divine madness believe…
user61995
5
votes
6 answers
Is Architecture a Language?
I am puzzling over this question awhile, and I can’t find any good, clear reference on the topic without going way to deep into linguistics and getting too abstract. Can anybody explain to me if architecture can be considered a language?…
user40208
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5
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7 answers
Can the same arguments used to reject metaphysical solipsism also support accepting the existence of God?
Why do most people reject metaphysical solipsism and instead accept the reality of an external world? There are two primary reasons:
The perception of having repeated conscious experiences of an external world.
A strong intuition that one’s…
user80226
5
votes
1 answer
Explaining "saying vs. showing" in Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
When thinking about the distinction between saying and showing in Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, I'm reminded of the "dictionary game" where you attempt to define a word by using other words ... and then those words,…
RobertF
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5
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0 answers
How is W. James' "pure experience" any better than the "diaphaneity" he says that he rejects?
This is not actually a tangent: I remembered the question (which I'd thought of posting) while critiquing Gilbert Ryle's anti-dualism, which goes back to my issues with the notion of category mistakes, etc. But so I am drawing on the SEP article…
user40843
5
votes
5 answers
Are the subjective experience of the "inner witness of the Holy Spirit" and the subjective experience of an external world of equal epistemic value?
In 1998, Dr William Lane Craig debated Professor Keith M. Parsons at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, TX. The topic of the debate was "Why I Am/Am Not a Christian." After the debate there was a lengthy exchange between the debaters led by the…
user66156
5
votes
7 answers
Why do I have the perception of a chair (or other objects) ? - first person experience question
Why do we have a perception of (say) a chair, but all we can explain is that it correlates to an electric pattern?
In other words, why is there a chair (or any object) in our visual field ?
Some may point to illusions as a hint. Indeed, I can see a…
user66861
4
votes
3 answers
What is duality called when it refers to the separation between us and the external world?
Like many philosophical terms, dualism and duality are used differently by different people and in different circumstances. I am aware of Substance dualism (mind and body being separate things entirely or of different substance), Property dualism…
Kodama
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4
votes
6 answers
What's the difference between objectivity and intersubjective agreement?
Suppose a multitude of people all recount similar experiences. They describe seeing a cup on a table or observing the Moon in the sky. Each person reports their own subjective experience of perceiving these phenomena. Based on their reports, there…
user66156