Original scientific paper
Towards an Epistemological Phenomenology of Ecstatic Experiences of God
Peter Gaitsch
orcid.org/0000-0001-8800-2286
; Karl-Franzens, University of Graz
Abstract
One of the tasks of the philosophy of religion when examining the claim of ecstatic experiences of the presence of God is to clarify the epistemic status of such liminal extraordinary experiences: to what extent can the claim of experiencing God be justified? Evidential arguments are of special interest to the topic of ecstasy, but, problematically, imply that there is something like a perception of God akin to our everyday perception of objects. Picking up the questioning of phenomenology, which is concerned with the justification of knowledge on the basis of first-personal evidential experience, I investigate the mode of givenness and the character of evidence for the phenomenon of the presence of God according to Max Scheler, Anthony Steinbock, and Jean-Luc Marion. I conclude by suggesting that there is no ecstatic experience of the presence of God which could be acknowledged as evidence of God’s originary givenness at all, for it may be the case that religious ecstasy is undistinguishable from features of idolatry.
Keywords
Ecstasy; evidence; idolatry; phenomenology; religious experience
Hrčak ID:
134457
URI
Publication date:
8.2.2015.
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