Mysticism refers to religious traditions devoted to cultivating altered states of consciousness called “mystical experiences.” This essay reviews philosophical attempts to define mystical experience as well as arguments about whether mystical experiences justify religious beliefs.
Category: Philosophy of Religion
“Properly Basic” Belief in God: Believing in God Without An Argument
It’s often thought that religious beliefs—such as belief in God—require supporting arguments to be reasonable. Some philosophers have argued, however, that arguments are not needed for belief in God to be reasonable. This essay examines their case.
The Meaning of Life: What’s the Point?
Does life’s having meaning depend on a supernatural reality? Is death a threat to life’s meaning? Is life the sort of thing that can have a “meaning”? In what sense? Here we will consider some approaches to questions about the meaning of life.
Meaning in Life: What Makes Our Lives Meaningful?
What is a meaningful life? This essay reviews some influential answers to this question.
Psychological Approaches to Personal Identity: Do Memories and Consciousness Make Us Who We Are?
An introduction to the theory of personal identity known as a psychological theory of personal identity: the nature of persons is that we are our conscious mind and memories.
Agnosticism about God’s Existence
An introduction to agnosticism about God’s existence, an alternative to theism and atheism.
Modal Ontological Arguments for the Existence of God
An introduction to modal ontological arguments for the existence of God.
Cosmological Arguments for the Existence of God
An introduction to cosmological, often first-cause, arguments for the existence of God.
Animalism and Personal Identity: Are We Animals?
An introduction to the philosophical theory on the topic of personal identity known as animalism.
Pascal’s Wager: A Pragmatic Argument for Belief in God
Should you believe there’s a God? To answer this, we might examine arguments for theism—like first-cause and design arguments—and arguments for atheism—like arguments from evil. These arguments offer evidence for and against God’s existence. Pascal’s wager, originally proposed by Blaise Pascal (1623–1662), takes a more pragmatic approach. Pascal thought that evidence cannot settle the question of whether God exists, so he proposes that you should bet, or wager, on God because of what’s at stake: you have lots to gain and not much to lose. This article explains Pascal’s wager and considers three objections.
