Is religious experience epistemologically reliable? An embodied-philosophical inquiry
Religious Studies December 9, 2025 DOI: 10.1017/s003441252510139x (opens in new tab) via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractAn embodied cognition approach offers a more robust support for the epistemic reliability of religious experience than a strictly cognitivistic or constructivist framework. The article argues that interpreting religious experience through embodied cognition can resolve the long-standing impasse between religious-experience-based epistemology and constructivism. It proposes an integrative framework that moves beyond their traditional opposition, suggesting compatibility and potential synthesis rather than mere coexistence.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Embodied cognition Perspective graphical Religious experience Dominance genetics Constructivism international relations |
| Key finding | 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.