3B - William James

Who was William James?

• William James was a philosopher and psychologist, and the author of The varieties of Religious Experience: a study in the human nature.

• James felt that religious experience was at the heart of religion.

• James noted that religious experiences have great authority for the person who has them and can often have a marked effect in a person’s life.

• Much of his book concentrates on descriptions and first-hand experiences - Sceptics viewed some of these as examples of psychological disorder, but James disagreed and placed such accounts as central to any understanding of religion.

What are the 4 common characteristics of a mystical experience according to William James?

PINT

• Passivity

• Ineffability

• Noetic

• Transiency

What is passivity + key quote?

• The person feels that they have been taken over rather than done something.

• These can be helped along by certain movements or fixing attention but the recipient is usually overcome by the experience and may even experience alternative personality states e.g. speaking in tongues, prophesising.

• ‘‘Passivity… the mystic feels as if his own will were in abeyance’’

What is ineffability + key quote?

• One which cannot be truly described or conveyed to others.

• ‘‘It defies expression, that no adequate report of it’s contents can be given in words’’

What is noetic + key quote?

• Revelations of universal and eternal truths.

• ‘‘Mystical states seem to those who experience them to also be states of knowledge’’

What is transiency + key quote?

• They cannot be sustained for long but may sometimes be experienced on many occasions.

• They are intense but fleeting experiences.

• James believed the limit of a mystical experience was at most an hour or two but often they were shorter.

• ‘‘Mystical states cannot be sustained for long’’

What does William James make clear about mystical experiences?

• William James makes it clear that mystical experiences happen in a conscious state and are different to dreams.

How much do these mystical experiences convince you of the existence of God?

• Mystical experiences do not convince me of the existence of God that much as there could be many alternative explanations e.g. psychological factors, could it not be the same as a schizophrenic patient hallucinating.

• The most convincing type of mystical experience would be a noetic one as it could be unexplainable that someone received such information otherwise.

What may the problems with mystical experiences for evidence of the existence of God?

• The problem with mystical experiences for the evidence for the existence of God is that it is very subjective and there is no empirical evidence.

What does James suggest that religious experiences are, and why does he not see this as a criticism of his argument?

• James suggested that religious experiences were a ‘psychological phenomena’ - a part of a person’s psychological make-up.

• However, he did not see this as a criticism of his argument, but explained that religious experience is natural to a person, just like other psychological experience like thinking and self awareness.

What 3 principles do James’ conclusions rest on?

• Empiricism

• Pluralism

• Pragmatism

What the empiricism principle?

• The many case studies produced are empirical evidence of the effects of religious experience.

• This evidence provides us with clues to the reality beyond what we see and hear.

• In response to those who might object that he is interpreting the data, James argues that we interpret all out experiences.

What is the pluralism principle?

• James’ research into experiences in different faiths led him to conclude that they were similar.

• Those having experiences may be experiencing the same ultimate reality, but interpreting it as their religious belief structure.

• Therefore a Christian might interpret an experience as the Holy Spirit whereas a Sikh may interpret it differently.

What is the pragmatism principle?

• James believed that truth was not fixed and that what is true is whatever has great value to us.

• As religious experience has great value to those it effects, we have to conclude that there is truth to be found in religion.

• William James believed that all religious experiences indicated the probability of God.

• He was more interested in the effects of religious experiences.

• To James, the validity of a religious experience rests upon the effects it produces - are lives changed?

• James argument for God is very general - the phenomena of religious experiences point to a higher order of reality.

Isaiah’s commission example

6 - Passivity

7, 9, 10 - Noetic

9 - Ineffable