Res Philosophica 93 (1):269-287 (2016)
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Abstract |
Transformative experiences are epistemically and personally transformative: prior to having the experience, agents cannot predict the value of the experience and cannot anticipate how it will change their core values and preferences. Paul argues that these experiences pose a puzzle for standard decision-making procedures because values cannot be assigned to outcomes involving transformative experience. Responding philosophers are quick to point out that decision procedures are built to handle uncertainty, including the uncertainty generated by transformative experience. My paper enters here and contributes two points. First, religious experiences are transformative experiences that are especially resistant to these responses. Second, a procedure that appeals to voluntarist reasons—reasons arising from an act of the will—can allow an agent to rationally decide to undergo or avoid an outcome involving transformative experience. Combining these two points results in some interesting implications with respect to practical aspects of religion.
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Keywords | Catholic Tradition Contemporary Philosophy History of Philosophy |
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ISBN(s) | 2168-9105 |
DOI | 10.11612/resphil.2016.93.1.16 |
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References found in this work BETA
Grounding Practical Normativity: Going Hybrid.Ruth Chang - 2013 - Philosophical Studies 164 (1):163-187.
Transformative Experience and Decision Theory.Richard Pettigrew - 2015 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 91 (3):766-774.
View all 18 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
Stakes Sensitivity and Transformative Experience.Rachel Elizabeth Fraser - 2018 - Analysis 78 (1):34-39.
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