Document Type : Original Article

Author

• Mansour Nasiri

Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Tehran, Farabi Campus

Abstract

Anthony Kenny holds that religious experiences have not epistemic validity. His argument is based on an analysis of the nature of religious experience. According to him, religious experience cannot be regarded as sensory perception; so it must be regarded as a non-sensory perception. However, if it is regarded as a non-sensory perception, then it is a mode of revelation, but since revelation requires that exists a revealer before religious experience, i.e. a God, we are encountered to a vicious circle. Jeff Jordan holds that Kenny’s argument is not successful. In this paper, I, following Jordan’s structure, examine arguments of both thinkers. I finally, disagree with Jordan in most of his arguments and will show that they are unsuccessful.

Keywords

• Religious Experience
• epistemic validity of religious experience
• Sensory Perception
• non-sensory perception
• Antony Kenny
• Jeff Jordan