In this paper, we argue that there are epistemic norms on evidence-gathering and consider consequences for how to understand epistemic normativity. Though the view that there are such norms seems intuitive, it has found surprisingly little defense. Rather, many philosophers have argued that norms on evidence-gathering can only be practical or moral. On a prominent evidentialist version of this position, epistemic norms only apply to responding to the evidence one already has. Here we challenge the orthodoxy. First, we argue that (...) there is no significant normative difference between responding to evidence you have and gathering more evidence. Second, we argue that our practices of epistemically criticizing agents for their poor evidence-gathering indicate the existence of epistemic norms on evidence-gathering. Finally, we show that our thesis has important implications for recent debates about the relationship between epistemic norms and inquiry. (shrink)

Background: In the last decades, there have been important developments in the scientific and technological areas of healthcare. On certain occasions this provokes conflict between the patients' rights and the values of healthcare professionals which brings about, within this clinical relationship, the problem of conscientious objection. Aims: To learn the opinions that the Nurses of the Madrid Autonomous Community have regarding conscientious objection. Research design: Cross-cutting descriptive study. Participants and research context: The nurses of 9 hospitals and 12 Health Centers (...) in the Madrid Autonomous Community. The study was done by means of an auto completed anonymous questionnaire. The variables studied were social-demographical and their opinions about conscientious objections. Ethical considerations: The study was approved by the Ethical Community of Clinical Research of the University Hospital Príncipe de Asturias. Participants were assured of maximum confidentiality and anonymity. Findings: A total of 421 nurses answered the questionnaire. In total, 55.6% of the nurses confirmed they were religious believers, and 64.3% declared having poor knowledge regarding conscientious objection. The matters that caused the greatest objections were voluntary abortions, genetic embryo selection, refusal of blood transfusions, and therapy refusal. Discussion: Different authors state that the most significant cases of conscientious objections for health professionals are those regarding carrying out or assisting in abortions, euthanasia, the practice of assisted reproduction and, finally, the prescription and dispensing of the morning-after pill. In our study, the most significant cases in which the nurses would declare conscientious objections would be the refusal to accept treatment, the selection of embryos after genetic diagnosis preimplantation, the patient’s refusal to receive blood transfusions due to religious reasons and pregnant women’s request for voluntary abortions within the first 14 weeks. Conclusion: Nurses’ religious beliefs influence their opinions regarding conscientious objection. The nurses who declare themselves as religious believers object in a higher percentage than those without religious beliefs. (shrink)

Beliefs can be resistant to evidence. Nonetheless, the orthodox view in epistemology analyzes beliefs as evidence-responsive attitudes. I address this tension by deploying analytical tools on capacities and masking to show that the cognitive science of evidence-resistance supports rather than undermines the orthodox view. In doing so, I argue for the claim that belief requires the capacity for evidence-responsiveness. More precisely, if a subject believes that p, then they have the capacity to rationally respond to evidence bearing on p. Because (...) capacities for evidence-responsiveness are fallible and may be masked, beliefs can be held in the face of counter-evidence. Indeed, I will argue that our best science of belief supports the claim that evidence-resistant beliefs result from masks on evidence-responsiveness capacities. This account of belief not only allows for resistance to evidence, but provides us with a framework for describing and explaining actual cases of evidence-resistance. (shrink)

En el artículo defiendo la idea de una lectura cómplice constructiva como la mejor manera de lidiar con el problema del canon filosófico. Frente a la conservación complaciente y la eliminación paranoica, mi posición aboga por una lectura menos reverencial que interrogue el papel de los clásicos en los procesos de exclusión racistas y sexistas. La lectura de los clásicos requiere hacer fisuras en la canonización. Como ejemplo de lo anterior reviso el papel de Kant y el neokantismo en la (...) construcción racista y sexista del canon filosófico, así como de las obras canónicas del propio Kant. (shrink)

The orthodox view in epistemology is that belief is constitutively evidence-responsive. I offer a novel argument for a version of this view, one that appeals to capacities to rationally respond to evidence. I do so by developing the Sellarsian idea that the concept of belief functions to mark the space of reasons in a non-intellectualist and naturalistic direction. The resulting view does justice to the role of belief in social interactions, joint deliberation, and rational persuasion, while including evidence-resistant beliefs and (...) animal beliefs as genuine beliefs. It has a range of further benefits: it helps us account for epistemic normativity, paves the way for better psychological models of belief revision, distinguishes beliefs from imaginings and mere acceptances, and helps us avoid noxious simplistic takes on human irrationality. (shrink)

Resumen El propósito de este trabajo es profundizar en el concepto de actividad de imagen y defender su utilidad como categoría de estudio para comprender diferentes tipos de comportamiento que afectan a la imagen social de los hablantes en la interacción comunicativa: cortesía, descortesía y actividad de autoimagen. Teniendo como base estudios sociopragmáticos del español desde una perspectiva cultural y estudios teóricos en inglés de la última década, se tratará el concepto de actividad de imagen, el cual se caracteriza de (...) acuerdo con dos conceptos claves: el del efecto social que un comportamiento comunicativo tiene sobre las imágenes de los hablantes y el del continuo social, la conexión que se establece entre sus imágenes en la interacción. De esta forma, se propone tratar la actividad de imagen desde dos perspectivas relacionadas: la de la dirección seguida por el efecto social hacia los interactuantes y la de las características de este efecto, siendo su interrelación el factor que permite identificar y caracterizar el tipo de actividad de imagen. (shrink)

El artículo desarrolla el estado de la cuestión respecto a los elementos de la práctica deportiva que influyen en la producción de emociones. Se focaliza la selección bibliográfica desde la perspectiva teórica y metodológica procedente de la sociología y la psicología social. En las conclusiones se muestra que la frecuencia de la práctica deportiva, el grado de interacción y la presencia de competición son los principales factores que influyen en la producción emocional.

¿Es Kant un sexista? La discusión contemporánea sobre el sexismo kantiano recorre todas las áreas del corpus desde la epistemología, metafísica, estética, ética hasta la filosofía política. En la presente investigación me concentraré en la discusión ética y política, en particular en el estatus moral de la mujer. Argumentaré que inclusive en la lectura más caritativa de Kant el estatus moral de la mujer es inferior al del hombre. Para desarrollar el punto anterior tomaré como hilo conductor el concepto de (...) carácter. Este concepto presenta dos ventajas. Por un lado, condensa ciertas preocupaciones morales como la relación entre sensibilidad y razón. Por otro lado, y en relación con el punto anterior, el carácter moral se expresa diferente en el carácter femenino y en el carácter masculino. En el primero se expresa el sentimiento, mientras que en el segundo se expresa la racionalidad. Dada la primacia de la racionalidad sobre sentimiento, el carácter moral masculino tiene ciertas ventajas sobre el femenino. (shrink)

Commentary on Pablo Hubacher Haerle’s paper “Is OCD Epistemically Irrational?”. I argue for expanding our assessment of rationality in OCD by considering a wider range of epistemic parameters and how they fit together.

Resistance towards non-Muslim leaders emerged when the case of blasphemy against Islam was brought against Basuki Tjahya Purnama, known as Ahok, as the governor of DKI Jakarta at that time (DKI Jakarta is mostly inhabited by Muslims). The case of blasphemy committed by Ahok has triggered the resistance of Muslims towards non-Muslim candidates for the regional leader election. This study uses a cross-sectional design conducted by interviewing 1121 Muslim youths who participated in regional head elections in North Sumatra. Multivariate analysis (...) in this study used a logistic regression test with JAPS 16 software. The results of this study indicate that Muslim youth in North Sumatra province have high resistance to non-Muslim candidates for regional heads (governor and mayor). Hifz Al-Din [maintaining religion] (p < 0.001; Exp [β] = 2.505) is seen to affect the resistance of Muslim youth to non-Muslim governor candidates; Hifz Al-Din (p < 0.001; Exp [β] = 2.053) is seen to affect the resistance of Muslim youth to non-Muslim mayoral candidates; Hifz Al-Ummah [developing national integration] (p = 0.001; [β] = 2.194) is seen to have influenced the resistance of Muslim youth to non-Muslim governor candidates; Hifz Al-Ummah (p = 0.011; Exp [β] = 1.800) affects the resistance of Muslim youth to non-Muslim mayoral candidates. Muslim youth have high resistance to non-Muslim leaders when participating in elections. Muslim youth are afraid that prospective non-Muslim leaders will make various policies that will make it difficult for Muslims to carry out various kinds of worship performed by Muslims. CONTRIBUTION: This study is expected to provide information for non-Muslim leader candidates about the fear of Muslim youth against non-Muslim candidates for the regional leader election, especially regarding the policies to carry out worship for Muslims and to maintain the unity of the Ummah. (shrink)

This article is an edited transcript of the roundtable entitled “What is Philo-Performance?” that took place in Paris on 28 June 2014, within the framework of the “Theatre, Performance, Philosophy International Conference: Crossings and Transfers in Anglo-American Thought”. The conference was organized by Julien Alliot, Flore Garcin-Marrou, Liza Kharoubi and Anna Street from the LAPS, a French research group on performance philosophy.

In a time of globalization, Political Philosophy for the Global Age provides a theoretical basis for the convergence of human values in terms of legitimate conceptions of time, language, and notions of self. Sánchez Flores reviews what she considers to be the most important positions in the current debate on political theory (liberalism, communitarianism, feminism, and postcolonialism) and also proposes her own original contribution. Sánchez Flores’s unique approach is a critique of a type of morality formulated solely on (...) the basis of the Judeo-Christian view of reality. It is a theoretical construct that becomes an invitation to explore other notions of human morality and an inquiry into the need to produce a political philosophy that universalizes an ethics of caring and responsibility as well as provides a locus where diverse human cultures can meet. (shrink)

Review of Flores-Júnior, O. La vie facile. Une lecture du cynisme ancien, Paris, Librairie philosophique J. Vrin. (2021).

This article comprises an up-to-date critical review of the field known as Economic Methodology or Philosophy of Economics (EM/PE). Two edited volumes (Kincaid and Ross 2021; Heilmann and Reiss 2021), a special issue of the Journal of Economic Methodology (2021), and a recent bibliometric analysis of the field (Claveau et al. 2021) constitute the basis of the review. Drawing on these sources, we identify a number of problematic trends in current EM/PE research. We claim that these trends could be interpreted (...) as two kinds of biases, namely a micro-level bias and a mainstream bias. We discuss the respective details of these biases and their normative implications for the discipline. (shrink)

A principios del siglo XVII, Johannes Kepler estudió el ojo humano como instrumento óptico. Décadas más tarde, René Descartes propuso un experimento para aproximarse al ojo como si fuese un objeto separado por completo del cuerpo. Tomado como analogía de la cámara oscura, el ojo exterior ayudaría a entender la visión humana, a explicar la refracción de la luz y a modelar mejores instrumentos ópticos. Ese ojo exterior ampliaría asimismo la observación y exploración estética de la luz. El ojo objetualizado, (...) desprendido del cuerpo humano, se convertía en materia de estudio a disposición de un observador todavía completamente corporeizado. En este extrañamiento, el ojo técnico y el ojo orgánico se observan y modelan el uno al otro. (shrink)

Delusions are standardly defined as attitudes that are not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence. But what evidence do people with delusion have for and against it? Do delusions really go against their total evidence? How are the answers affected by different conceptions of evidence? -/- This chapter focuses on how delusions relate to evidence. I consider what delusions-relevant evidence people with delusions have. I give some reasons to think that people typically have evidence for their delusions, and (...) that the evidence they have against them is often overstated. I draw on this discussion to consider whether delusions are evidentially supported and epistemically rational. Finally, I discuss implications for the nature of delusion, responsibility, and treatment and suggest directions for future research. Throughout, the discussion is sensitive to different conceptions of evidence and rationality in epistemology. -/- A central upshot is that what we should say about the epistemic standing of delusions depends substantively on our positions in epistemology, in particular, on the debate between internalists and externalists about evidence. If we want clarity on the epistemic standing of delusions, we need to incorporate more sophisticated tools from epistemology. (shrink)

This text seeks to introduce a question related to the place that philosophy occupies within the contemporary scene, thus opening a problematization regarding whether it can respond to the demands imposed on it by the present. In this regard, we seek to rethink the notion of philosophy from a standpoint that rescues its practical, material, and affective dimensions, making visible the transformative impulse that it can have with respect to the usual meanings associated with disciplinary production linked to the traditional (...) division between theory and practice, thus opening it to a dimension that recognizes the implicating (creative, interventional) role that philosophy has in the production of reality. (shrink)

In a context of pervasive digitalization of the social world, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, the field of education has undergone major changes with the development of digital practices and settings. However, the physical presence of the subjects and the body remain something primordial and irreplaceable in traditional educational processes. Thus, it is often assumed that virtuality is opposed to the corporeal reality of the subjects involved in teaching, learning and studying. In this paper we aim to critically (...) challenge this assumption by addressing the phenomenon of virtuality in a more original sense: as a fundamental dimension of corporeality itself. Drawing on Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological insights, we argue that the experience of the virtual is inherently embodied and fully real. We understand corporeality and virtuality as entangled and multidimensional phenomena. At the same time, this leads us to rethink the digital as only one possible medium in which virtuality can appear as inherent to embodied experience. We develop our phenomenological approach in three instances. First, we question and bracket two common assumptions about corporeality. From our critical perspective, assumptions about a disembodied digitality and a devirtualized corporeality represent extremes within which educational discourses currently move. Second, we address the inherent virtuality of embodied experience. We outline the heuristic concept of the virtual body to describe corporeality and virtuality as entangled and multidimensional phenomena that encompass extension, intercorporeality and intermediality. Finally, we make some remarks on the relationships of corporeality and virtuality considering the challenges of digital education. (shrink)

Bioethics emerged as a discipline in the 70s of the last century. One of its main objectives has been to analyze clinical cases that pose moral problems. This analysis is generally carried out by a multidisciplinary group, the Health Care Ethics Committee, which is comprised of ethical experts or healthcare providers assisted by a facilitator, depending on the context. Different methodologies are used in these situations. The deliberative method, in its various configurations, is the most widely used in many Committees. (...) Identify whether the deliberative method is included in regulated undergraduate and postgraduate teaching; analyze whether a single model can be identified or whether there is heterogeneity in the proposals. A bibliographic review was carried out, following the scoping review method. With respect to the first objective, there is no evidence on the teaching and use of the deliberative method in the Faculties and Schools of Medicine and Nursing, the emphasis is placed on training oriented to the resolution of clinical cases and a certain deliberative proposal is developed from them, more pragmatic than ethical-philosophical. In relation to the second objective, differences are observed between the two most prevalent schools (D. Gracia and B. Molewijk), with the model proposed by Gracia being used more in the Spanish-speaking world, and Molewijk's model in the English-speaking world. It can be seen that D. Gracia's proposal is more philosophical and Molewijk's more pragmatic. Finally, it is considered pertinent to further disseminate the deliberative method and its advantages, as well as its potential for bioethics education. (shrink)

Callosidad cerebral -- Odiseo y Dédalo -- Tántalo, Sísifo e Ixión -- Tiresias, Calígula y Edipo -- El jugador, Sansón y Butes -- Sócrates y Merlín -- La caña Pesante.

We reply to a comment by Hargrave and Smith on a paper in which we use Ostrom’s design principles to develop theory about stakeholder governance. We agree with most of the issues that Hargrave and Smith raise, but disagree with their statement that the systems view of stakeholder governance that they advocate stands in contrast to our approach. The two approaches are complementary.

Esta investigación, se efectuó en un aula del centro de desarrollo integral de la familia (DIF) en el municipio de Durango, México. En este lugar, se capacitan personas para el trabajo artesanal; ahí fueron seleccionadas 13 madres adolescentes con un rango de edad que fluctúa entre los 15 y 23 años de edad, todas ellas víctimas de maltrato infantil. En este grupo de personas se implementó la propuesta filosófico-pedagógica denominada “Filosofía para Niños y Adolescentes” del filósofo norteamericano Matthew Lipman. El (...) principal objetivo fue conformar una “comunidad de indagación”, donde, a través del dialogo razonado las participantes desarrollaron habilidades cognitivas, posibilitándolas a departir de manera ética y moral sobre sus experiencias de vida dentro de un entorno democrático. Los resultados obtenidos se dan a conocer a través de las revelaciones expresadas por las participantes durante los diálogos filosóficos, además, fueron registradas las habilidades cognitivas detectadas durante 20 sesiones. Los resultados fueron contrastados con las teorías para demostrar el cambio cognitivo de las participantes en las comunidades de diálogo. También se registraron ciertos hallazgos inesperados en otras áreas académicas que favorecen el pensamiento ético y moral. (shrink)

Understanding Computers and Cognition presents an important and controversial new approach to understanding what computers do and how their functioning is related to human language, thought, and action. While it is a book about computers, Understanding Computers and Cognition goes beyond the specific issues of what computers can or can't do. It is a broad-ranging discussion exploring the background of understanding in which the discourse about computers and technology takes place. Understanding Computers and Cognition is written for a wide audience, (...) not just those professionals involved in computer design or artificial intelligence. It represents an important contribution to the ongoing discussion about what it means to be a machine, and what it means to be human. Book jacket. (shrink)

"Como pensar hoje na escrita da história? Como enfrentar a página em branco que não se apresenta como um espaço neutro, mas um espaço onde quem escreve - o historiador - deixa rastros do passado e também os seus próprios rastros? Essas são algumas das questões colocadas pelos ensaios que compõem "Arte e pensamento: operações historiográficas". Num primeiro momento, são fornecidos o ritmo, o tom e os compassos por meio de discussões e reflexões sobre uma teoria da experiência para a (...) escrita da história, sobre a historicidade do artístico, sobre o inespecífico do contemporâneo, sobre o pensamento na fronteira, sobre a nomeação dos anônimos em Machado de Assis. A partir dessas harmonizações dissonantes e consoantes, iniciam-se 3 operações que delineiam o segundo momento do livro, cuja intenção maior é fazer operar a escrita da história na imbricada conjunção história-arte-pensamento."--Contratapa. (shrink)

What are the roles of scientific causal knowledge in relation to the evidential requirements of policy making? In this chapter, I review the existing approaches in philosophy of science to the policy relevance of causal knowledge. I assess the specific concerns and questions on which these philosophical accounts have focused and show how they only offer a partial perspective of the relation between causal knowledge and policy making. Most existing views are top-down approaches: they start from philosophical concerns about causation (...) and evidence, and then make general claims about (potential) policy implications, but leave the notion of “policy” unanalyzed. As an alternative, I put forward some ideas toward a bottom-up approach: one that understands policy making as a dynamic process with several stages, and that starts from concrete policy problems, to then examine how causal notions and methods can contribute in various ways to the specifics of the process of policy making. (shrink)

Comment définir l’enfant victime? Répondre à cette question est moins simple qu’il n’y paraît et nécessite de relever trois défis : appréhender la connaissance statistique de ce phénomène, comprendre sa dimension politique et, enfin, saisir le contenu juridique des normes nationales et internationales produites dans ce domaine. Cette contribution met en évidence la diversité des approches possibles pour appréhender le sujet, mais aussi les vides juridiques pouvant exister en la matière. La présente contribution propose de faire le point sur l’état (...) du droit et les perspectives d’évolution qui pourraient être envisagées. (shrink)

The dominating theologian in Europe between Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus, Henry of Ghent produced a massive Summa of Ordinary Questions as well as fifteen quodlibets during his long tenure at the University of Paris. His work constituted a new synthesis of faith and reason which competed with that of Thomas Aquinas and influenced the history of both philosophy and theology. The first five articles of the Summa, dealing with various issues associated with human knowledge, constitute an adequate introduction (...) to Henry's thought. In them we find his approach to fundamental principles and themes developed in detail in the rest of his corpus. Of the five, only article one has appeared as a whole in English translation. The next four articles reinforce and develop the findings of the first article, providing additional treatments that indicate Henry's principles and orientation. In fact, these four articles alone provide a condensed but remarkably rich portrait of Henry's basic thought, and so are an invaluable resource for beginning and advanced students alike. Articles 2-5 include important positions on knowledge and reality, a conception of humanity's ultimate purpose and the pursuits most conducive to it, and an approach to faith and reason. These four articles are presented here for the first time in English translation with an introduction and notes. Along with the translation, the volume includes the Latin text of the modern critical edition. --Book cover. (shrink)

En “Acerca de la pregunta: ¿qué significa ilustrar?” de 1784, Mendelssohn sostiene que la ilustración que está conectada con la vocación esencial (wesentlich Bestimmung) del ser humano en tanto que ser humano puede entrar en conflicto no solo con la moralidad –las vocaciones extra-esenciales (außerwesentlichen Bestimmungen)– sino también con la vocación esencial del ciudadano, esto es, como miembro de un Estado. En estos casos, afirma Mendelssohn, es necesario cierto cuidado y precaución, cierta prudencia (Klugheit), en el uso de la ilustración. (...) El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar el significado de esta apelación a la prudencia, por parte de Mendelssohn, como símbolo de una Ilustración que, en su compromiso radical con la humanidad, propone una aguda indagación sobre la “situacionalidad” de la razón y su poder emancipador, en la compleja interacción entre teoría y práctica. (shrink)

Laudato si’, with its articulation of a familial ecology reflecting Francis’s Latin American context, expands the subject of solidarity in Catholic social teaching and thought. Yet, this ecological vision of family fails to attend to the problem of gender subordination latent in Catholic social teaching, including in its approaches to ecology. A vision of solidarity that eradicates gender and ecological subordination must elaborate a familial ecology characterized by both mercy and equality.

Structured time (hyle) and its relationship to other elements of physics: matter, energy, space, etc.

Resumen Este artículo tiene como objetivo analizar el debate filosófico entre Ernst Cassirer y Martin Heidegger en el periodo de entreguerras, a partir de su modo disímil de comprender la libertad del hombre como proceso de autoconfiguración del sujeto o Dasein. En primer lugar, se examinará la reinterpretación global de la filosofía kantiana por parte de ambos pensadores a la luz de sus proyectos filosóficos: en el caso de Cassirer, la filosofía de las formas simbólicas, en el de Heidegger, la (...) hermenéutica de la facticidad. En segundo lugar, se analizarán sus interpretaciones sobre el pensamiento estético de Friedrich Schiller, en el marco de sus reflexiones sobre la función del arte para la comprensión de la Selbstbildung. Ello permitirá iluminar un nuevo aspecto de esta disputa, así como determinar la distancia entre sus dos orientaciones filosóficas y políticas.This paper aims to analyze the philosophical debate between Ernst Cassirer and Martin Heidegger in the interwar period, starting from their dissimilar way of understanding human freedom as a process of selfconfiguration of the subject or Dasein. First, we will examine the global reinterpretation of Kantian philosophy by both thinkers in the light of their philosophical projects: in the case of Cassirer, the philosophy of symbolic forms, in the case of Heidegger, the hermeneutics of facticity. Second, their interpretations of the aesthetic thought of Friedrich Schiller will be analyzed, within the framework of their reflections on the function of art for the understanding of the Selbstbildung. This will illuminate a new aspect of this debate and determine the distance between their two philosophical and political orientations. (shrink)

Cosmopolitanism in the contemporary debate is firmly based in the Western tradition of liberal thought, which is culturally situated. The liberal conception of self alienates nature and childhood and its internal logic justifies colonialism and carries patriarchal and racialized baggage. Cosmopolitan Liberalism is a critique of the Western tradition of liberal thought and an effort to overcome the philosophical boundaries of individualism towards a more inclusive and open conception. It seeks to expand the theoretical basis of individuality beyond its own (...) limitations towards the ideal of universal love and the moral principle of compassion which are compatible with all world cosmologies--liberal and non-liberal. Cosmopolitan Liberalism is a reflection on what it is that all human beings owe one another in spite of the many humanly created borders that set us apart"--Provided by publisher. (shrink)

In this article, I offer a methodological analysis of the empirical research on the causal effects of trade liberalisation, and assess whether such studies can be of any use for guiding policy prescriptions in real-world economies. The analysis focuses on the mainstream economic research that has been used to support arguments in favour of trade liberalisation during the last decades. Even though there are empirical results that could be taken as valid evidence for a causal connection between free trade and (...) economic gains, none of the existing evidence licences trustworthy inferences about the policy effectiveness of trade liberalisation reforms in real-world cases. There are three aspects of the empirical literature that make it highly problematic for making reliable policy inferences: (a) the criteria used to define the notion of ‘free trade’, (b) the background assumptions embedded in the econometric techniques used for estimating causal effects, and (c) the widespread desire among academic economists to attain scientific results in terms of universally valid generalisations. The analysis exposes a worrisome mismatch between, on the one hand, the research aims and outcomes of scientific economics and, on the other, the kind of evidence that would be useful for guiding actual policy deliberations. (shrink)

Interest in the nature of religious and mystical experiences (henceforth RMEs) is old. Recently, this interest has shifted toward understanding the relationship between brain function and RMEs. In the first section, I introduce neurocognitive data from three experiments that strongly correlate the report of religious mystical experiences with specific neural activity. Although correlations cannot be considered as “absolute” proof, strong correlations provide us with inductive grounds for justifying the belief or nonbelief of some proposition. These data suggest that the human (...) brain plays a key role in having an RME and will provide support for the claim that our explanations for phenomena should be located in the natural world. In the next section, I explore the meaning of an RME from a Jamesian perspective and discuss the use of RMEs and the apparent design of the world as proof for God’s existence. My point is to show that the whole enterprise of using phenomena “that only God could have brought about” as the proof for God’s existence is inherently question begging and so is no proof that God exists. In the third section, I lay out in detail my assumptions for my main argument in the final section. There, I argue that belief in the supernatural is not justifiable given the data we have from contemporary science and basic rules of reasoning. (shrink)