Research

17 pages, 281 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Heidegger’s World: Re-Enchanting through Thingness

by Xiaochen Zhao

Religions 2024, 15(1), 3; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010003 - 20 Dec 2023

Viewed by 863

This study investigates how Martin Heidegger’s notion of “the thing” (Das Ding) can help rescue modern disenchantment with regard to its root in the World, a concept developed from “being-in-the-world” presented in Being and Time, and later taken as a participant in [...] Read more.

This study investigates how Martin Heidegger’s notion of “the thing” (Das Ding) can help rescue modern disenchantment with regard to its root in the World, a concept developed from “being-in-the-world” presented in Being and Time, and later taken as a participant in the bilateral polemos illustrated in die Gestalt (signifying Being’s strife to disclose itself against the Earth: self-concealing concealment). In Section 1, I analyze the occurrence of disenchantment by critically reviewing several thinkers’ discussions of it, pointing out that “faciality”—which has structured the modern Western understanding of reality—is the cornerstone of ontotheology, as well as the collapse of it: disenchantment. In Section 2, to demonstrate how Heidegger’s rediscovery of usefulness in a de-subjectified discourse of signification has challenged the positivistic view attached to “faciality”, I examine Heidegger’s idea of “readiness-to-hand,” revealing the basic temporal–spatial units composing the “handiness” of categorical beings and its relation to Dasein, progressing thereon to the analysis of a thing-centered worldview of Heidegger’s phenomenology. In Section 3, I demonstrate how this thing-centered worldview has the potential to form a preparative stage for re-enchantment of the World by uncovering the concealed existentiality within things, aligning with Heidegger’s polemos in his philosophy of art. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religious Experience and Metaphysics)

9 pages, 224 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mystical Experiences through the Lens of Heidegger and Mamardashvili: Overcoming the Metaphysical Model of Human Existence

by Erik Kuravsky

Religions 2023, 14(10), 1266; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14101266 - 06 Oct 2023

Viewed by 870

Abstract

This essay relates a Heideggerian interpretation of metaphysics, as determined by an interpretation of Being in terms of a priori laws/essences, to a traditionally passive model of experience. The spiritual principles of the Christian and the Buddhist experience of the Nothing are shown [...] Read more.

This essay relates a Heideggerian interpretation of metaphysics, as determined by an interpretation of Being in terms of a priori laws/essences, to a traditionally passive model of experience. The spiritual principles of the Christian and the Buddhist experience of the Nothing are shown as an overcoming of this model and an overcoming of metaphysics. The essay displays the ways in which Heidegger and Mamardashvili stress the illusionary nature of a metaphysical understanding of human existence and the central role of personal transformation beyond one’s psychological subjectivity. This transformation is tied to the possibility of active engagement with the Nothing, requiring efforts of attentive self-detachment from the constant pressure of one’s representational faculties motivated by a hidden flight from anxiety. Buddhist and Christian notions of detachment and letting-be are then interpreted in light of Heidegger’s and Mamardashvili’s ideas, allowing for a phenomenological interpretation of certain passages from the New Testament and the Bodhidharma’s teaching. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religious Experience and Metaphysics)

17 pages, 359 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Metaphysical Magnificence of Reduction: The Pure Ego and Its Substrate According to Phenomenology and Vedanta

by Olga Louchakova-Schwartz

Religions 2023, 14(7), 949; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14070949 - 24 Jul 2023

Viewed by 849

Abstract

This article examines relationships between the absolute being of the universal ego (Ātman-self) according to the Indian religious philosophy of Vedanta (V) and the phenomenological, irreal being of the transcendental ego in Husserl’s phenomenology (P). Both Ātman and the transcendental ego [...] Read more.

This article examines relationships between the absolute being of the universal ego (Ātman-self) according to the Indian religious philosophy of Vedanta (V) and the phenomenological, irreal being of the transcendental ego in Husserl’s phenomenology (P). Both Ātman and the transcendental ego are accessed in the first-person perspective by onto-phenomenological reductions. Such reductions, as stated by Husserl, have absolute freedom of positing and, thus, can reveal or conceal states of being. In contrast with P-reduction, which renders the being of the ego-pole invisible, V-reduction penetrates into the being of the ego-pole and opens a horizon of unique, non-intentional mental states. Following the dialectics in pre- and post-reduction givenness of being, there emerges a picture of connection between the intentional phenomenological being of the transcendental ego and the non-intentional being of the pure ego of Vedanta (Ātman-self). The pure ego of Vedanta manifests as a substrate for the transcendental ego of phenomenology. From this, we can conclude that reductions function as the loci of dialectical syntheses of being, whereby the unity of being has a fuller, more complex and multi-sided sense than the one intended in the natural attitude. In their breaking of theoretical habits conditioned by the substance metaphysical tradition, reductions are truly indispensable in the revelation of being that grounds the theory of knowledge. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religious Experience and Metaphysics)

16 pages, 525 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Turning Religious Experience into Reality: The Spiritual Power of Himma

by Ismail Lala

Religions 2023, 14(3), 385; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14030385 - 14 Mar 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1617

Abstract

The extremely influential mystic, Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn ‘Arabī (d. 634/1240), believes that the most advanced gnostics are imbued with a special power that turns their religious experience into reality. This is the power of himma—the power of existentiation that elite gnostics derive [...] Read more.

The extremely influential mystic, Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn ‘Arabī (d. 634/1240), believes that the most advanced gnostics are imbued with a special power that turns their religious experience into reality. This is the power of himma—the power of existentiation that elite gnostics derive from God’s absolute power of existentiation. Ibn ‘Arabī and his followers assert that this power, which is exercised by the gnostics through an intense and unremitting concentration, actually shapes and forms external phenomenal reality as long as the concentration of the gnostic persists. This paper explores the different types of himmas that can exist, what kind of reality they allow the gnostics to perceive, and what relationship the objects created by himma have with the gnostic who exercised this power. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religious Experience and Metaphysics)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 316 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Being as Absolute Beginning: Metaphysical Considerations Regarding the Gifted Character of Being Ex Nihilo

by Juliana Peiró Pérez

Religions 2023, 14(3), 310; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14030310 - 27 Feb 2023

Viewed by 942

Abstract

The metaphysical crisis that Western thought is going through—whose main sign is nihilism—can be overcome through an understanding of the finite being that, precisely understood as ex nihilo, excludes nothingness from itself. This paper analyzes the notion of being ex nihilo and [...] Read more.

The metaphysical crisis that Western thought is going through—whose main sign is nihilism—can be overcome through an understanding of the finite being that, precisely understood as ex nihilo, excludes nothingness from itself. This paper analyzes the notion of being ex nihilo and its real dynamism through the contributions provided by the metaphysics of the gift. The origin of being ex nihilo as donatio essendi is addressed first; we then move on to a reflection of finite being as given and absolute beginning. In this paper, I will aim to show that (§1) the notion of donatio essendi is a radical way of conceiving being as an absolute novelty that safeguards God’s freedom while securing the proper novelty of created being, (§2) then illustrate how created being is an absolute gift wholly dependent on the divine being, especially if the created being is a person, and (§3) finally, explain how these theses are compatible with an existential interpretation of the actus essendi according to the first principle of metaphysics, i.e., being as noncontradiction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religious Experience and Metaphysics)

18 pages, 257 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fore-Giving in Time: A Husserlian Reading of Genesis, Luke, and John

by Peter R. Costello

Religions 2022, 13(12), 1226; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13121226 - 19 Dec 2022

Viewed by 898

Abstract

This paper attempts to perform a phenomenology of forgiveness by way of careful analysis of texts on time-consciousness and alterity by Edmund Husserl. It does so in two ways: first, by identifying the manner in which we give time to ourselves as both [...] Read more.

This paper attempts to perform a phenomenology of forgiveness by way of careful analysis of texts on time-consciousness and alterity by Edmund Husserl. It does so in two ways: first, by identifying the manner in which we give time to ourselves as both absolute and concrete subjectivity; and second by identifying the way in which our relation to other persons has an isomorphic, structural similarity with our self-relation as temporality. The final part of the paper engages with three biblical texts—the story of Joseph and his brothers in Genesis, where forgiveness is mentioned for the first time—and two short passages in the Gospels of Luke and John. Ultimately, the paper concludes that forgiveness of self and other occurs as a kind of pre-giving or fore-giving in the sense of opening up new meaning for us all to inhabit. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religious Experience and Metaphysics)

17 pages, 556 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Desire for Purity and Inevitable Contamination: Derrida and Prayer

by Filippo Pietrogrande

Religions 2022, 13(12), 1133; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13121133 - 23 Nov 2022

Viewed by 1294

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to understand the reasons underlying Derrida’s interest in the phenomenon of prayer. The article traces the different directions taken by the topic in the over forty-year long reflection of the philosopher. I start off by highlighting the [...] Read more.

The aim of this paper is to understand the reasons underlying Derrida’s interest in the phenomenon of prayer. The article traces the different directions taken by the topic in the over forty-year long reflection of the philosopher. I start off by highlighting the dichotomic structure around which Derrida lays out his entire analysis of prayer, describing it, in general terms, as an opposition between determination and indetermination: on the one side, the multiple concrete manifestations of prayer; on the other, the possibility of a pure address to the other as other, not marked by metaphysics. I proceed by examining the qualities of what Derrida calls the “pure prayer”, or “prayer in itself”, in direct contrast with the praising prayer. The issue concerning the autonomy and the specificity of this indeterminate act of addressing is especially taken into consideration. The fundamental question remains whether a pure prayer is truly conceivable, or whether its contamination is as inevitable as necessary for the actual possibility of religion, theology, and prayer itself. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religious Experience and Metaphysics)

28 pages, 394 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Phenomenology and Transcendence: On Openness and Metaphysics in Husserl and Heidegger

by Bruno Cassara

Religions 2022, 13(11), 1127; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13111127 - 21 Nov 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2020

Abstract

In this paper I examine the relationship between phenomenology and metaphysics by reassessing the relationship between phenomenological and metaphysical transcendence. More specifically, I examine the notion of phenomenological transcendence in Husserl and the early Heidegger: Husserl defines transcendence primarily as the mode of [...] Read more.

In this paper I examine the relationship between phenomenology and metaphysics by reassessing the relationship between phenomenological and metaphysical transcendence. More specifically, I examine the notion of phenomenological transcendence in Husserl and the early Heidegger: Husserl defines transcendence primarily as the mode of givenness of phenomena that do not appear all at once, but must be given in partial profiles; Heidegger defines transcendence primarily as Dasein’s capacity to go beyond entities toward being. I argue that these divergent understandings of phenomenological transcendence have resulted in a significant difference in reception among French phenomenologists of religion. These thinkers assert that phenomenology, when properly conceived and utilized, can make room for the divine and its revelation, i.e., for a metaphysical transcendence. I further argue that these thinkers prefer Heidegger’s phenomenology to Husserl’s because they understand Heidegger’s transcendence as the subject’s openness to being, while they understand Husserl’s transcendence as a limit, as the inability to capture worldly objects. I take up Jean-Luc Marion’s phenomenology of givenness as a “case study” to illustrate this point. Finally, I argue that this preference for Heidegger over Husserl is misplaced and should be reversed. A close reading of Heidegger’s Phenomenology of Religious Life shows that Dasein is confined to its own possibilities and cannot be open to a relationship with the divine. By contrast, Husserl’s phenomenology provides the radical openness necessary to welcome revelation. While Husserl cannot envision a “worldly God,” the structures of horizonality and temporality characterize a subject capable of an authentic openness to revelation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religious Experience and Metaphysics)

13 pages, 276 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Experience of Prophecy and the Metaphysics of Providence in Aquinas

by Mirela Oliva

Religions 2022, 13(10), 921; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100921 - 02 Oct 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2083

Abstract

This paper discusses the active role of the prophet within divine providence, namely her understanding of the prophetic message and her use of prophecy. I focus on Aquinas’ account of prophecy and I adopt two methods: the phenomenological method that describes the experience [...] Read more.

This paper discusses the active role of the prophet within divine providence, namely her understanding of the prophetic message and her use of prophecy. I focus on Aquinas’ account of prophecy and I adopt two methods: the phenomenological method that describes the experience of prophecy and the metaphysical method that starts from the divine attribute of goodness and works through the order of divine providence. In Aquinas’ view, prophecy is a personal mission that the prophet receives to fulfill God’s plan for humankind. This mission involves the prophet’s mental operations and practical engagement. I start with the metaphysics of providence and then describe the prophetic experience. Finally, I address the issue of judgment in the understanding of the prophetic message and the use of prophecy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religious Experience and Metaphysics)

17 pages, 468 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Max Scheler’s Movement of Love and the Object of Religious Experience

by Kobla Nyaku

Religions 2022, 13(10), 878; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100878 - 20 Sep 2022

Viewed by 2170

Abstract

In this paper, I explore the implications of Max Scheler’s concept of the movement of love, and I show that this movement, for him, constitutes not only the core of human nature but also the metaphysical presupposition upon which the nature of the [...] Read more.

In this paper, I explore the implications of Max Scheler’s concept of the movement of love, and I show that this movement, for him, constitutes not only the core of human nature but also the metaphysical presupposition upon which the nature of the object of religious experience could be understood. I argue that Scheler’s unique way of blending intellectual knowledge of essences and spiritual intuition, i.e., metaphysics and religion, respectively, makes his position extremely interesting for present-day interpretations of religious experiences. The question then is, could religious experiences, such as awe, bliss, reverence, and revelation, be said to be given only in spiritually participating in the movement of love—and could this participation be the defining factor of these experiences? Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religious Experience and Metaphysics)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

11 pages, 258 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Time, Memoria, Creation: Receptions of Augustinism in the Philosophical Theology

by Tatiana Litvin

Religions 2022, 13(8), 679; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13080679 - 26 Jul 2022

Viewed by 1128

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to develop a thesis about the potential of phenomenology as a method for analyzing classical ancient texts. The article outlines the key issues of the doctrine of the time of Augustine and raises the question of the [...] Read more.

The aim of the paper is to develop a thesis about the potential of phenomenology as a method for analyzing classical ancient texts. The article outlines the key issues of the doctrine of the time of Augustine and raises the question of the principles of phenomenological interpretation. Proceeding from the presentism approach, parallels are drawn between the philosophy of Augustine and the phenomenology of E. Husserl, the issue of duration and structure of the present is especially considered. The philosophy of Augustine includes both theological and epistemological conclusions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religious Experience and Metaphysics)

16 pages, 270 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pragmatic Encroachment, Phenomenology, and Religious Experience

by Michael D. Barber

Religions 2022, 13(7), 669; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13070669 - 21 Jul 2022

Viewed by 1326

Abstract

Aaron Rizzieri’s Pragmatic Encroachment, Religious Belief, andPractice (2013) is the fullest religious appropriation of a relatively new epistemological concept: pragmatic encroachment. To achieve this goal, Rizzieri rightly sees (1) how justification takes place within an encompassing pragmatic context and (2) how justification [...] Read more.

Aaron Rizzieri’s Pragmatic Encroachment, Religious Belief, andPractice (2013) is the fullest religious appropriation of a relatively new epistemological concept: pragmatic encroachment. To achieve this goal, Rizzieri rightly sees (1) how justification takes place within an encompassing pragmatic context and (2) how justification of religious belief establishes within a wider context less than absolute knowledge. While the first point can be supported by Alfred Schutz’s theory of action, often including multi-layered sub-acts, Schutz’s idea of a theoretical enclave can create a space for epistemic evidentialism, as an independent distinctive moment, with distinctive (justificatory) purposes, within an overarching practical action. Rizzieri’s book itself exemplifies such evidentialism, theoretically justifying pragmatic encroachment, after the fashion of Husserlian transcendental phenomenology. Rizzieri could also profit from Husserlian regional ontologies, on which he implicitly already relies to support religious knowledge. Husserl’s concept of bipolar intentionality would accommodate Rizzieri’s responsible internalism, while allowing for the action of objects upon us. This, in turn, opens the door to the evidence for religious knowledge that an account of religious experience such as Max Scheler’s could provide. Such an account could counter those who reduce religious experience to mere subjective projection—a critique to which internalism might be more vulnerable. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religious Experience and Metaphysics)

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Religious Experience and Metaphysics

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Published Papers (12 papers)

Research

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI