By Steven Payne OCD (auth.)
Among Anglo-American philosophers, curiosity in mysticism has ordinarily been constrained to the query of even if mystical and non secular experi ences offer proof for, or wisdom of, the life and nature of God. so much authors finish that they don't, simply because such stories lack definite characteristics wanted as a way to depend as cognitive. during this examine I learn a few present philosophical reviews approximately mysticism and objec tions to its epistemic value within the context of an in depth examine of the writings of a unmarried mystical writer, the Spanish Carmelite Saint John of the move (1542-1591). I argue that from his works you may draw a coherent idea of what occurs within the Christian mystical existence, and should point out how popularity of this idea may be defended as rational via a kind of inference also known as the "Argument to the easiest rationalization. " during this manner i'm hoping to teach that mysticism nonetheless has an important pertaining to the justification of spiritual religion no matter if it can't be used to "prove" the exis tence of God. the character and merits of my very own a bit of strange method of mysticism can maybe most sensible be defined by way of contrasting it with the way in which different authors have handled the topic. the most notable boost ments in fresh a long time has been the becoming fascination with mysticism, meditation, and the experiential features of religion.
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Extra info for John of the Cross and the Cognitive Value of Mysticism: An Analysis of Sanjuanist Teaching and its Philosophical Implications for Contemporary Discussions of Mystical Experience
Example text
231) And so, for example, if I correctly recognize the animal before me as a cat, then the form which, in the animal, makes it to be a cat, is also present in my mind as the intelligible species by which I understand. I5 Such species or concepts are not themselves the primary objects of our knowledge but instead the means by which material objects are known. T. " Thus I have essential knowledge of a human being when, from a specific phantasm of a man, I abstract the universal concept "rational animal"; I understand the individual person as an instantiation of a universal nature, and know him in terms of what makes him to be the kind of being he is.
3, pp. 133-144). " In other words, when John says that those united with God in contemplation are divested of all "particular concepts" and "distinct knowledge," he does not mean that they lose their understanding of mathematics, for example, or their ability to swim, to distinguish colors, or to do philosophy. John does not advocate an inhuman suppression of our natural cognitive powers, nor the pursuit of ignorance or amnesia. His point is rather that during the period of intense mystical union itself, mystics "cannot actually advert to any other thing" (C 26, xvii-my translation), because their intellects are being informed by God and are therefore not receptive to being actually informed by the species of creatures.
For example, some commentators have tried to read John as if he were a contemporary author, without realizing that key terms such as "union," "knowledge," "experience" and "the soul" may have had a different meaning for him than they do for us today. This has led to serious misrepresentations of his thought. To make matters worse, there is no one 16 THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN PERSON 17 place where John sets forth his basic philosophical and psychological principles in an organized way; one is forced, therefore, to sift through the writings for clues to the presuppositions underlying his teaching.