William James and the Origins of Mystical Experience
G William Barnard
The Innate Capacity December 4, 1997 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780195116977.003.0008 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mystical experience |
| Key points | Argues that contemporary philosophy of religion has shifted from viewing mystical experiences as direct contact with a transcendent Ultimate Reality to understanding them as culturally and linguistically constructed phenomena. |
Abstract
Abstract SEVERAL DECADES AGO, Western philosophers of religion frequently claimed that mystical experiences were the result of direct contact with an undefined, but usually vaguely Christian, Ultimate Reality. In recent years, however, a significant philosophical shift has taken place. In most contemporary philosophical discussions of mysticism, it is now almost axiomatic that mystical experiences are not so much revelations of a transcendent Ultimate Reality as they are highly refined, culturally produced, linguistically structured phenomena.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mystical experience, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Psychedelic Mystical Experience in the Human Encounter with Death | 1969 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Vectorial Cerebral Hemisphericity as Differential Sources for the Sensed Presence, Mystical Experiences and Religious Conversions | 1993 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The epistemic innocence of psychedelic states. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mystical Experience and Religious Doctrine | 1982 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |