Does the Philosophy of Mysticism Rest on a Mistake?
The Problem of Pure Consciousness March 29, 1990 Anthony N Perovich 24 citations
Immanuel Kant rejected the possibility of genuine mystical experience—direct experience of the divine in this life—because his epistemology made no room for the cognitive faculties such experience would require. Despite his hostility, many later philosophers of mysticism have adopted Kant's general epistemological framework as the foundation for analyzing all kinds of experience, including mystical ones. This article examines the tension between Kant's denial of mystical experience and the subsequent attraction of his philosophical scheme for theorists of mysticism.