Summary - Religious Experiences - OCR A Level Philosophy

William James Evaluation
Strengths -

• Quantity - religion based on the experience of its founder has been a
powerful force in history and modern research
• Effects - the effects of these experiences are powerful and positive.
They change the lives of communities and individuals in a way that is
dif cult to explain without reference to an outside agency such as God
• Similarities - there are considerable similarities between descriptions of
religious experiences that would not be present if these experiences
were made up
• There are many rst-hand testimonies offered as evidence

Objections -

• His study is too subjective as he focuses more on the truth of the
experience for the individual rather than if this relates to the
idea of a God who exists in the real world
• He does not show that there really must be a God - he could
have looked at other possible causes of a religious experiences
• Believers in different faith claim that their experiences prove the
truth of their faith however they cannot all be right
• Believers tend to interpret experiences in the light of their
particular traditions making them high subjective and personal




fi fi ‘ ’