William James Argument

William James was a philosopher and psychologist from New York City.

His book ‘The Varieties of Religious Experience: a study in human nature’ summarises the author’s ‘Gifford Lectures’ (renowned lectures in natural theology- based on reason and ordinary experience) given in 1902 in Edinburgh - It has been argued to be the most important book ever written on the topic of religious experience.

In it, James aims to survey the various types of religious experience as a psychologist and to present the findings of this survey and its implications for philosophy. He used a variety of case studies of first-hand religious experience in the words of the people who told him their stories such as a homeless drunken man who “seemed to feel some great and mighty presence. I did not know then what it was. I did learn afterwards that it was Jesus, the sinner’s friend.” The man went on to become a preacher

Religious experience for James is at the heart of religion whereas religious teachings, practices and attitudes are ‘second hand’ religion. The experiences are true religion.

• James analysed forms of experience including conversion, prayer and saintliness
• He viewed conversion as a transformation from a divided or imperfect self (unhappy, conscious of being wrong) to a more unified consciousness (happy, knows right) – can be a sudden or gradual process

Much of his book concentrates on firsthand accounts of experiences however, sceptics view many of these are examples of psychological disorders. James saw them as central to understanding any religion.

His aim was to take an objective a stance as he could, to take accounts of religious experiences seriously and to make observations about them. James believed that all religious experiences indicated the probability of God, although as a pluralist, James does not directly speak of God but of the ‘spiritual’ and the ‘higher aspects’ of the world and the self. He was particularly interested in the effects of religious experience on people’s lives and believed that the validity of the experience rests upon the effects it produces e.g. are lives changed? This was his way of testing them.

He was more concerned with ‘does it work?’ as opposed to ‘is it true?’. He wanted to examine the experiences objectively and did not try to prove if they were true or false.

Therefore, James offers an argument for God in very general terms, the phenomena of religious experiences points to a higher order of reality.

The criteria for religious experience – the main arguments of The Varieties of Religious Experience

1.    In James’ view, the spiritual value of religious experience is not undone even if we can find a psychological explanation for the experiences. He rejected the view that religious experience was the result of a repressed or perverted sexuality (Freud’s suggestion) He saw this as an attempt to discredit religion by those who started with an antipathy towards it.

2.    He did not agree that there was a single feature of religious experience that defines it, but he understood it to be “the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine” i.e. humans have a feeling or ‘something there’

3.    The experiences of great religious figures can set patterns for the conventional believer to study. He cites examples of ‘saintliness’ in people such as St Teresa of Avila. He shows how such Christians can be strong people who help others to progress and for people to learn from

4.    He believed that religious experience was more important than focusing on a study of religious institutions i.e. the church as these were examples of secondary religion

James’ four criteria

James acknowledges the difficulty in defining religious experience so he proposed four criteria that he considered to be the characteristics of all religious and mystical experiences.

• Ineffable – experience beyond proper description – no adequate description can be given in words. Language limitations prevent description.
• Noetic – not just ‘feelings,’ but a deep and direct knowledge of God which could not have been achieved through reason alone. The ‘truth’ was revealed to them
• Transient – the experience is temporary and cannot be sustained, although its effects may last a long time. It can develop and deepen with subsequent experiences and the effects can last a lifetime
• Passive – experience not initiated by the mystic but rather they have a sense that something is acting upon them. The experience is controlled from outside themselves

His main conclusion: religious experience does not give proof of anything however it is reasonable to believe that there is a personal God who is interested in the world and individuals. It is not reasonable for anyone to reject clear evidence of religious experience just because they started form a position of scepticism

Strengths

• Quantity: religion, based on the experience of its founders has been a powerful force in history and modern researchers such as David Hay suggest it is widespread
• Effects: the effects of these experiences are powerful and positive. They change the lives of communities and individuals in a way that it difficult 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 first-hand testimonies offered as evidence

Objections

Bertrand Russell asserted “the fact that a belief has a good moral effect upon a man is no evidence whatsoever in favour of its truth” – he argued that it might be possible for someone to be profoundly affected for the good by a story about a great hero, but this could happen even if the story were a myth and the hero was entirely fictional.

Antony Flew in ‘Theology and Falsification’ concluded that statements which cannot be tested empirically are meaningless. He would therefore reject James’ test of religious experience through its results in the life of individuals.

• 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 experience
• Believers in different faiths 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 highly subjective and personal

Swinburne’s argument (1934-)

He suggests that there is no reason why claims to religious experience should be treated any differently to ordinary perceptual claims. He offers to supporting principles:

• The principle of credulity – we must accept what appears to be the case unless we have clear evidence to the contrary. The clear evidence might mean that you have good reason to doubt the person, you prove that God does not exist or you show the experience was not caused by God.
• The principle of testimony – unless we have positive evidence that they are misremembering or are untrustworthy, we should believe the testimony of the experience. He claims that “other things being equal, we usually think that what others tell us that they perceive, probably happened”

The aims and main conclusions drawn by William James in The Varieties of Religious Experience

• Draws on knowledge of psychology and neurology in accepting that religious experiences are psychological phenomena that occur in our brains
• This does not mean that they are just psychological
• They may well have a supernatural, as well as a spiritual element
• He bases this on his three key principles

1. Empiricism – his case studies are empirical evidence of the effects of religious experience which provide us with clues as to the reality beyond what we see and hear
2. Pluralism – his experiences in different faiths led him to conclude that they were similar. Those having experiences may be experiencing the same ultimate reality i.e. a Christian may see it as the presence of the Holy Spirit and a Hindu may see it differently.
3. Pragmatism – he believed that the truth was not fixed and what is true is whatever has great value for us. Therefore, on observing the effects of religious experience, we have to conclude that there is truth to be found in religion

A  religious experience does not have to marked by a dramatic supernatural event, although it can be; the real test of what happened is the long-term change in the person.

Being a pragmatist, James deemed the truth of something to be determined by its practical effects and consequences.