MYSTICISM, LANGUAGE AND TRUTH

Ever since Friedrich Schleiermacher addressed the "cultured despisers" of his time by turning to religious experience, experience has come to occupy a central place (if not the central place) in philosophy of religion. He attempted to show that the truth of religion does not consist in the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Dharma
Main Author: Karuvelil, George (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Dharmaram College 2010
In: Journal of Dharma
Further subjects:B Language
B Mysticism
B Truth
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Description
Summary:Ever since Friedrich Schleiermacher addressed the "cultured despisers" of his time by turning to religious experience, experience has come to occupy a central place (if not the central place) in philosophy of religion. He attempted to show that the truth of religion does not consist in the externals that they despised but in an inner experience. With the linguistic turn of philosophy in the twentieth century, the linguistic dimension of experience came to the forefront. But there is a palpable tension between these linguistic and truth dimensions of religious experience such that any overemphasis on one puts the other in jeopardy. This is clearly seen in the philosophy of Steven Katz who emphasizes language, and thereby putting religious truth at risk. The opposite tendency is seen in Walter Stace. Examining their theories will show that a theory of religious experience, if it is to hold on to both these dimensions, must be such as to make religious experiences logically identifiable and the theory of experience empirically adequate. Together, I shall call them the experiential imperatives.
ISSN:0253-7222
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of Dharma