Philosophy of mysticism : raids on the ineffable / Richard H. Jones.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jones, Richard H., 1951- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mysticism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (440 p.)

Place of Publication:

Albany, [New York] : State University of New York Press, 2016.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This work is a comprehensive study of the philosophical issues raised by mysticism. Mystics claim to experience reality in a way not available in normal life, a claim which makes this phenomenon interesting from a philosophical perspective. Richard H. Jones's inquiry focuses on the skeleton of beliefs and values of mysticism: knowledge claims made about the nature of reality and of human beings; value claims about what is significant and what is ethical; and mystical goals and ways of life. Jones engages language, epistemology, metaphysics, science, and the philosophy of mind. Methodological issues in the study of mysticism are also addressed. Examples of mystical experience are drawn chiefly from Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta, but also from Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Daoism.

Contents:

Contents; Preface; Postmodernist Concerns; Methodological Issues; The Analytical Philosophical Approach; 1 Mysticism and Mystical Experiences; Mystical Paths; Extrovertive Mystical Experiences; Mindfulness; Introvertive Mystical Experiences; Depth-Mystical Experiences; Mystical Enlightenment; A Typology of Mystical Experiences; Weighting Mystical Experiences; 2 Mystical Knowledge and Religious Ways of Life; Experience and Knowledge; Are There Genuine Mystical Experiences?; Attribution Theory; The Depth-Mystical Experience and Its Conceptualizations

Mystical Experiences and Mystical Ways of LifeConstructivism; Nonconstructivism; Constructivism and the Depth-Mystical Experience; Can the Constructivism Dispute Be Resolved?; The Possibility of Mystical Insight; 3 Are Mystical Experiences Cognitive?; Can Nonmystics Judge the Veridicality of Mystical Experiences?; What Can Mystics Claim to Know?; Mysticism and Empiricism; The Principle of Credulity; The Analogy to Sense-Perception; Problems of Justifying Specific Doctrinal Claims; The Limitation of Any Mystical Claim to Knowledge; Can Mystical Knowledge-Claims Be Compared?

Do Mystical Knowledge-Claims Genuinely Conflict?Can One Mystical System Be Established as Best?; Is It Rational to Accept Mystical Knowledge-Claims?; "Properly Basic Beliefs"; Ultimate Decisions; 4 The Scientific Study of Mystics and Meditators; Scientific Study Versus Mystical Practices; Are New Theories of the Mind Needed?; Can Mystical Experiences Be Studied Scientifically?; Scientific Explanations of Mystical Experiences; Sociocultural Explanations of Mystical Experiences; Explaining Away Mystical Experiences; Problems with Sociocultural Explanations

Problems with Physiological ExplanationsDo Natural Triggers Produce Mystical Experiences?; Natural Phenomena and Mystical Insights; The Compatibility Problem; Applying Occam's Razor; Our Epistemic Situation; Is Naturalism or a Transcendent Alternative More Plausible?; The Neutrality of Science; 5 Mysticism and Metaphysics; Mystical Metaphysics; The Status of the World; The Nature of Transcendent Realities; Consciousness; The Self; The Question of Mystical Union; Mysticism and the Closure of Mystery; 6 Mysticism and Language; Ineffability; The Mirror Theory of Language

And Yet Mystics Continue to TalkAn Analogy; Silence; Positive Characterizations of Transcendent Realities; Mystical Utterances and Knowledge; Negation; Defending Mystical Discourse; 7 Mysticism and Rationality; Rationality and Styles of Reasoning; Paradox; Resolving Paradoxes; Understanding the Paradoxical; Nagarjuna's Reasoning; Mysticism and the Question of Universal Reason; 8 Mysticism and Science; Scientific and Mystical Approaches to Reality; An Analogy; Beingness and Science; Mystical Experience Versus Scientific Measurement and Theorizing; Indirect Avenues of Aid

Science, Mysticism, and the Natural World

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781438461205

1438461208