Eleventh International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

Reformed epistemologists like Alvin Plantinga have argued that experiences of God has the same kind of warrant as sensory beliefs. Like visual experiences, they can be basically justified, i.e. they can provide justification for other beliefs without themselves requiring evidential support. They have gone so far as to liken our capacity to experience the divine to having an extra sense: a sensus divinitatis. One problem for classifying experiences of God with other purported basic beliefs is that they lack one plausible criterion for basicness: universality. Sensory beliefs, unlike beliefs about the divine, enjoy near-consensus across cultural, regional, ethnic, and socio-economic differences. Whether one has had an experience of the divine, on the other hand, is highly contingent upon these factors. I argue that the reformed epistemologist is in a position to be defended against the non- universality charge by an unlikely ally. There has been a recent surge of interest in the connection between the psychedelic psilocybin and religious experience. Recent studies have concluded that psilocybin – under the right dose and setting – commonly produces religious experiences in participants of various backgrounds. I argue, further, that the proponent of psychedelic religious revelation is in a position to be aided by the reformed epistemologist, as well. While the reformed epistemologist’s main problem is universality, the proponent of psychedelic religious revelation’s main problem is veridicality.