Contemporary Epistemology and the Study of Mysticism
The Problem of Pure Consciousness March 29, 1990 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780195059809.003.0006 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Citations | 17 |
| Key points | Argues that the constructivist approach to mysticism, while valuable, has limits that obscure aspects of mystical phenomena by focusing primarily on contextual factors. |
Abstract
Abstract What epistemologies and methodologies help us to understand the phenomena of mysticism? How do these epistemologies and methodologies clarify some aspects of these phenomena while obscuring or occluding other aspects? When we investigate mystical traditions, how and where do we look? Do we look only where we think there is more light to see? In this essay I would like to help open up these questions more by focusing especially on the limits of one influential contemporary approach, which emphasizes study of the contexts of mysticism-the core texts, practices, social relations, and historical traditions out of which a given form of mysticism develops-and the way that mystical experience is, at least in part, constructed on the basis of a particular background context. Such an approach has been recently developed in two collections of essays edited by Steven T. Katz. I will, following others in this volume, identify this approach as constructivism (although it is important to note that there are other contemporary variants of constructivism with differing assumptions).
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mysticism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy | 1993 | Edited collection of essays | |
| Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 8
- Does the Concept of “Altered States of Consciousness” Rest on a Mistake? International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 2007
- Concepts and religious experiences: Wayne Proudfoot on the cultural construction of experiences Religious Studies July 18, 2011
- Contemplative Studies: Prospects for a New Field Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education September 1, 2006
- Neurophenomenology and Neuroepistemology Approaches to Integrating Constructivist, Perennialist, and Universalist Perspectives on Mystical Experiences Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science July 31, 2024
- Transliminality: Comparing Mystical and Psychotic Experiences on Psycho-Phenomenological Grounds Open Theology January 10, 2021
and 3 more in the library