Critical Study of Swinburne's Employment of Credibility Principle in Religious Experience Argument

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

The university of Tehran

Abstract

Argument through religious experience is one of the arguments presented for proving the existence of God (which in this article is briefly and less accurately called "religious experience argument"). This argument uses religious experience, which some people undergo, as an indication of the existence of God. Richard Swinburne is among those who raise such an argument in his book, “The Existence of God”. One of his basic arguments is a principle that he calls "credibility principle". Briefly stated, this argument says that if the object A is understandable, it can be concluded that the object A probably exists. The present article is a critical assessment of the possibility of using this principle in religious experience argument. Furthermore, it is concluded from all the critiques of the writer (of the article) and the critiques brought up by others concerning the use of this argument in religious experience argument that because of facing with serious challenges, this principle is not applicable.

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References

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