Does Mystical Experience Give Access to Reality?
Religions October 18, 2022 DOI: 10.3390/rel13100983 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism Mystical experience |
| Keywords | Metaphysics Reductionism Epistemology Materialism Consciousness Volition linguistics |
| Citations | 4 |
| Key points | Argues that after addressing radical contextualism and reductionist neuroscience, mystical experience can be brought into dialogue with metaphysics, especially given contemporary interest in alternatives to materialism and renewed psychedelic research. |
Abstract
Mystical experiences can bring an overwhelming sense that deeper realities have been contacted or that the everyday world has been apprehended as it truly is. Philosophical study of the experiences has not given much attention to their metaphysical significance, especially to the insights they may offer on fundamental issues such as the nature of reality, self, consciousness, and time. There are reasons for the neglect, and in the present article I consider two major theoretical obstacles to finding metaphysical significance in the experiences: a radical form of contextualism and a reductionist approach to neuroscience. With these obstacles addressed, there is room to consider how mystical experience and metaphysics can be brought into dialogue, a task facilitated by the contemporary resurgence of interest in alternatives to materialist metaphysics and a renewed interest in mystical experience encouraged by psychedelic research.