Alston on rationality & religious beliefs ~ slide 1

William Alston on religious experience& the rationality of religious belief

From William Alston. “Is Religious Belief Rational?” From The Life of Religion. Ed. Stanley Harrison & Richard Taylor. University Press of America, 1986.

Will defend the rationality of religious belief by appealing to their basis in religious experiences. Is this circular?

Clarifications: Readily admit that more (e.g., coherence,

valid inference) is involved in rationality of beliefs than their basis in experiences.

Alston on rationality & religious beliefs ~ slide 2

William Alston on religious experience& the rationality of religious belief

Am talking about central religions experiences – e.g., God comforted me, God guided me. Am not talking about vague experiences – e.g., felt peace during prayer

And am not claiming that religious experiences suffice as a basis for a religious belief-system. Need other factors, such as history, the experiences of the lives of other persons.

Alston on rationality & religious beliefs ~ slide 3

William Alston on religious experience& the rationality of religious belief

Is not necessary that all persons have these experiences. Must allow for the sharing of experiences.

Defense of religious experience (RE) is based on a comparison with sensory perception (SP). What are some of the features of SP?

Tells us about the regularity of nature

Alston on rationality & religious beliefs ~ slide 4

William Alston on religious experience& the rationality of religious belief

Typically vivid, detailed, & insistent What about RE?

Does not allow for prediction Is often only fleeting and much of

the experience is dim & obscure. Do these differences make RE

unreliable? No, we would expect that reliability is different for different kinds of experiences.

Alston on rationality & religious beliefs ~ slide 5

William Alston on religious experience& the rationality of religious belief

If subject matter is relatively stable, e.g., mathematics, the reliability would be based on sameness, repeatability.

If the subject matter is in flux, e.g., human persons, then we would expect reliability to look different.

If subject matter is God, difficulties are compounded.

Alston on rationality & religious beliefs ~ slide 6

William Alston on religious experience& the rationality of religious belief

If the subject matter is in flux, e.g., human persons, then we would expect reliability to look different.

If subject matter is God, difficulties are compounded.

Alston on rationality & religious beliefs ~ slide 7

William Alston on religious experience& the rationality of religious belief

Other attempts to show that RE is unreliable 1. RE can be explained entirely by

natural factors. Alston: Even if RE can be

explained naturalistically, this does not rule out a causal connection with God.

And even if the experiences are not directly of God, the may still have a value for information about God.

Alston on rationality & religious beliefs ~ slide 8

William Alston on religious experience& the rationality of religious belief

2. In RE, people are simply imposing preconceived theological schemes on their experience. Alston: Often RE challenge one’s

preconceived theological positons. If RE is colored by background

knowledge, same is true of SP. Is part of the human condition.

Alston on rationality & religious beliefs ~ slide 9

William Alston on religious experience& the rationality of religious belief

3. Beliefs of RE are often incompatible between different religious communities. (Cf. Hume’s pluralism argument against miracles.) Alston: May not be that the

different religions have care beliefs which are incompatible.

Two incompatible belief-systems may each be rational.

Alston on rationality & religious beliefs ~ slide 10

William Alston on religious experience& the rationality of religious belief

Perhaps religious beliefs-systems will, like science, eventually converge.

Final argument for the rationality of religious beliefs based on RE. Appeal to fruits; fruits are judged by

function of the beliefs yielding the fruits The function of SP is “to be a provision of

a map of the environment for the guidance of our action in that environment” (427).

Alston on rationality & religious beliefs ~ slide 11

William Alston on religious experience& the rationality of religious belief

And SP does indeed give us a map.

The function of RE is the “transformation of the person into what God intends us to be” (417). Now if RE produces these fruits,

we can say that the religious beliefs based on them are rational.