Evidentially Compelling Religious Experiences and the Moral Status of Naturalism

Presenter: Dr. Travis Dumsday

Religious experiences come in a variety of types. One sort that has not received much attention as a distinct topic is the 'evidentially compelling religious experience' (ECRE). The nature of an ECRE is such that if it actually occurs, its occurrence plausibly entails the falsity of metaphysical naturalism (i.e., the idea that the only kind of reality is physical reality). Examples of ECREs might include visions / auditions / near-death experiences conveying information the hearer could not have known through natural means, later verified; unambiguously miraculous healings; fulfilled prophecy; supernatural rescues; inter-subjective religious experiences (e.g., multiple people simultaneously having the same vision of the Virgin Mary), etc. After presenting a representative set of published case studies of ECREs, I argue that for most settled metaphysical naturalists (though not all), the combination of a settled metaphysical naturalism with an awareness of the relative commonality of testimony to ECREs is either irrational or immoral.

Dr. Travis Dumsday is an Assistant Professor in Philosophy and Canada Research Chair in Theology and the Philosophy of Science at Concordia University of Edmonton

We look forward to seeing you at this free event. An RSVP is requested but not required to Sara at: sara.mckeon@ualberta.ca
Light refreshments will be available.