Religions and Mysticism

Religions and Mysticism

An Examination of the Foundations of William James’s Approach to Religious Experience and Its achievements to the Philosophy of Religion

Document Type : Research Paper

Author
Ali Sanaee
Associate Professor, Department of Mysticism and Religions, Faculty of Humanities, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran.
10.22059/jrm.2026.413656.630746
Abstract
This article re-reads religious experience in light of William James’s philosophical foundations and examines the contributions of this approach to the philosophy of religion. Since religious experience is a central topic in the field and James’s works, especially The Varieties of Religious Experience, have strongly influenced contemporary thinkers, focusing on his views is warranted. Although pragmatism is often taken as his dominant method, a comprehensive reading shows that clarifying the place of religious experience in his thought requires attention to “pure experience” and “radical empiricism.”
The study employs a descriptive-analytical approach with emphasis on empathetic description, a requirement of phenomenology.
Key implications of James’s phenomenological approach include the role of emotions in the mechanism of faith; attention to lived experience in religious transformation; a pragmatic defence of religion; epistemological pluralism; a distinction between descriptive and explanatory reduction; the epistemic significance of religious experience; and a model for science-religion interaction.
Analytic philosophy of religion stresses clarifying beliefs and objectivity through formal rules and rational argument, yet it shows weak historical sensibility and insufficient attention to concrete experience in the realisation of faith; James’s thought can help remedy this deficiency.
Keywords
William james
religious experience
philosophy of Religion
radical empiricism
pure experience
Subjects
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Religions and Mysticism
Volume 59, Issue 1
(Spring & Summer 2026)
September 2026
Pages 189-211