Dr. Christopher Kirby

The Role of Religious Experience in American

Naturalism

Our “life-problem”knowing ourselves and our place in the world

around us.The Reflexivity of Philosophy

Where is the “I” that knows “me”?Dialectic

understanding the interplay and unity of opposites

The Allegory of the Cave

My General Concern…

Breaking the bonds of ignorance and convention?Yes, but not by transcending (i.e. stepping out

of) the world.Rather, by recognizing one’s immanence (i.e.

that one is in and of that world) How do we do this?

Accident?Miracle?

Even naturalists often couch this moment in terms of religious experience.

Why Breaking “INTO” Dialectic?

Phenomenology & Existentialism“In moving into the phenomenological [or

transcendental] attitude we get ‘nudged upstairs’ in a way that is unique. To move into the phenomenological attitude is not to become a specialist in one form of knowledge or another, but to become a philosopher.” – Robert Sokolowski

Problem with this view? Separation: Of transcendental and naturalOf subject and object Of experienced and experiencer.

Hopeful in this view: the possibility of personal growthHuman Becomings, not Human Beings

Example of a Philosophical Account

1. The phenomena of the world have definable traits.2. The traits of these phenomena can be understood.3. Understanding is always conditioned and

perspectival.4. Human interaction with the rest of the world,

cognitive or otherwise, is active and creative. Cf. Ryder, John. “Reconciling Pragmatism and Naturalism.” In Pragmatic

Naturalism and Realism. Ed. by John R. Shook (Prometheus, 2003) pg. 64

The early American naturalists would have embraced all four, whereas the scientistic, epistemically-centered naturalism of Dennett, Dawkins, et al. would only accept the first two.

The Basic Tenets of Naturalism

Universe composed of events, not objectsTransactions between organism and

environing conditionsOccur in chorus, not serially

Organic point of viewGreek physis, not Roman natura [Function, not

essence]Yet, religious experience still seen as

essential to human condition

Nature as Dynamic and Temporal

If one inquires why the American tradition is so strong against any connection of state and church, why it dreads even the rudiments of religious teaching in state-maintained schools, the immediate and superficial answer is not far to seek. The cause was not, mainly, religious indifference, much less hostility to Christianity, although the eighteenth century deism played an important role. The cause lay largely in the diversity and vitality of the various denominations, each fairly sure that, with a fair field and no favour, it could make its own way; and each animated by a jealous fear that, if any connection of state and church were permitted, some rival denomination would get an unfair advantage.

John Dewey, "Religion and Our Schools, The Hibbert Journal, VI (July, 1908), 800

Religious Experience and Tolerance?

William James•“Radical empiricism consists first of a

postulate… that the only things

debatable among philosophers shall be

things definable in terms of

experience…. The generalized

conclusion is that therefore the parts

of experience hold together from next

to next by relations that are

themselves parts of experience.”• The Works of William James. Cambridge, MA and

London: Harvard University Press, 17 vol., 1975. – The Meaning of Truth, pp. 6-7

•“One may say truly, I think, that

personal religious experience has its

root and centre in mystical states of

consciousness.” • The Varieties of Religious Experience. (New York:

Dover, 2002) pg. 379

Every Jack sees in his own particular Jill charms and perfections to the enchantment of which we stolid onlookers are stone-cold. And which has the superior view of the absolute truth, he or we? Which has the more vital insight into the nature of Jill's existence, as a fact? Is he in excess, being in this matter a maniac? or are we in defect, being victims of a pathological anæsthesia as regards Jill's magical importance? Surely the latter; surely to Jack are the profounder truths revealed; surely poor Jill's palpitating little life-throbs are among the wonders of creation, are worthy of this sympathetic interest; and it is to our shame that the rest of us cannot feel like Jack. For Jack realizes Jill concretely, and we do not. The Writings of William James: A Comprehensive Edition. Ed.

John J. McDermott (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977) pg. 645-646

“What Makes a Life Significant”

John Dewey•3 ways organisms cope with

environments

•Accommodation

• Submission to the conditioning environment

•Adaptation

• Changing the conditions to meet one’s needs

•Adjustment

• “There is a composing and harmonizing of the various elements of our being such that, in spite of changes in the special conditions that surround us, these conditions are also arranged, settled, in relation to us.”

• A Common Faith, LW 9:12-13

Religious experience need not be tied to a god-concept

Accordingly, the term god should not denote a divine being but rather:“a unifying of the ideal and the actual” in

human development

Adjustments might be called “religious”

George Santayana•“Each religion, so dear to those whose

life it sanctifies, and fulfilling so

necessary a function in the society

that has adopted it, necessarily

contradicts every other religion, and

probably contradicts itself.”

“How Religion May Be an

Embodiment of Reason”

•“There must need be something

humane and necessary in an

influence that has become the most

general sanction of virtue, the chief

occasion for art and philosophy, and

the source, perhaps, of the best

human happiness.” “How Religion May Be an Embodiment of Reason”

James’s view is too subjectiveTruth as a personal matter philosophical

impasse?Dewey’s view puts too much pressure on

educational institutionsDisputes over definition culture wars?

Santayana’s view is unrealisticTaking one’s beliefs less seriously not an option

for most

None of these engender tolerance

Dewey on GrowthAn extension of the growth of nature itself.Perception and cognition are only different in

degreeReason not over and above nature, but

immersed within it. Not the tenant of a reified mindA natural part of the transaction between

organism and environmentCulture is formalized experience , contiguous

with nature

A way out?

… to treat those who disagree - even profoundly - with us, as those from whom we may learn, and in so far, as friends… To cooperate by giving differences a chance to show themselves because of the belief that the expression of difference is not only a right of the other persons but is a means of enriching one's own life-experience, is inherent in the democratic personal way of life… It is to realize that democracy is a reality only as it is indeed a commonplace of living. “Creative Democracy

– The Task Before Us” [LW vol. 14 pg. 228]

Democracy as a Way of Life

Seeing the connection of ourselves to the world around us

Reconstituting ourselvesReconstructing our habits

Naturally breaking into dialectWe are who we are by virtue of the world

around us.

A Democratic Being

Thanks!

The End