Quasi-sensory religious experiences (QSREs) and their distinction from common/everyday sensory experiences (ESEs)
Piotr Kazimierz Kosztirko
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 5 |
| Population | Five experiential accounts categorized as quasi-sensory religious experiences |
| Key points | Argues that quasi-sensory religious experiences are a distinct and authentic type of experience irreducible to everyday sensory experiences, and that they can constitute a new 'belief-forming' (doxastic) practice potentially supported by empirical evidence, with implications for the veridicality of such experiences and for religious realism. |
Abstract
This is a master’s thesis on a particular type of religious experience: quasi-sensory religious experience. The term ‘religious experience’ is problematic and much of the intellectual heavy lifting in this thesis (unbeknownst to me at the start of this study) involves some preliminary unpacking of this concept in order to examine the thesis’s main topic. My main research question is the following: do quasi-sensory religious experiences (a supposed kind of religious experience discussed by Caroline Franks Davis) have identifiable features/elements that conceptually distinguish them from common or everyday sensory experiences? This question is addressed using a methodology that responds to some of the scholarly issues with defining “religious experience” (as discussed by William Arnal and Russell McCutcheon, for instance). The methodology is then used to analyze five different experiential accounts that fall into this specified quasi-sensory category. The immediate results of this analysis are discussed, as are certain consequences of the findings. The latter include the establishment of quasi-sensory religious experiences (QSREs) as a distinct and authentic type of experience, irreducible to everyday sensory experiences (ESEs). Strong arguments are presented in favor of the ability of these experiences to be constitutive of a new, what William Alston terms, “belief-forming” (or doxastic) practice. I discuss this quasi-sensory practice’s (QSP) potential to be an empirically supported and warranted belief-forming practice, and then describe some scientific/technological developments that could provide potential empirical support for this practice. Next, I explore this (potential) evidence’s role in determining the veridicality of QSREs (and, thereby, the potential of QSREs to provide experiential support for some form of religious realism), and finish by reflecting upon some further avenues of inquiry suggested by my research findings.