Is religious experience epistemologically reliable? An embodied-philosophical inquiry
Daekyung Jung
Religious Studies December 9, 2025 DOI: 10.1017/s003441252510139x (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Embodied cognition Perspective graphical Religious experience Dominance genetics Constructivism international relations Epistemology Philosophy of religion Resolution logic |
| Key points | Argues that an embodied approach to religious experience offers a more robust support for its epistemic reliability than a strictly cognitivistic framework, and proposes an integrative framework beyond the traditional opposition between religious-experience-based epistemology and constructivism. |
Abstract
Abstract This article critically re-examines the long-standing dominance of constructivism in debates concerning the epistemic reliability of religious experience. It argues that the epistemic reliability of such experiences can be more supported not through a strictly cognitivistic framework, but rather through an embodied approach. By interpreting religious experience from the perspective of embodied cognition, this article offers a possible resolution to the prolonged impasse between religious-experience-based epistemology and constructivism. Moreover, it proposes not merely a compatibility between the two paradigms, but the potential for an integrative framework that moves beyond their traditional opposition.
Citations in the library
Cites 8
- Introduction: Mysticism, Constructivism, and Forgetting The Problem of Pure Consciousness March 29, 1990
- The Cognitive Neuroscience of Religious Experience Cambridge University Press eBooks June 2, 2022
- Pure Consciousness and Indian Buddhism The Problem of Pure Consciousness March 29, 1990
- On Constructivism in Philosophy of Mysticism The Journal of Religion 2020
- Are Pure Consciousness Events Unmediated? The Problem of Pure Consciousness March 29, 1990
and 3 more in the library