Christian Apologetics Alliance

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The Search For Truth — Experientialism and Pragmatism

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incarnational_apologetics_JR_Miller-120x120To build an Incarnational Apologetic capable of reaching the post-modern person, it is important to understand four basic epistemologies.

  1. Rationalism
  2. Agnosticism
  3. Experientialism
  4. Pragmatism

The first two have already been covered in my previous posts, in this video-post I want to define both Experientialism & Pragmatism.

What is Experientialism?

Experientialism is a philosophy that accepts experience is the final court of appeal. The experience may be unique or general, private or social, but it is always the self-attesting character of experience that verifies the truthfulness of any claim.

The key thinkers covered in the following video are:

  1. Immanuel Kant (1727-1804): Listen to the voice within you for knowledge!
  2. G.W.F. Hegel (1770-1831): Reality is constantly changing with the flow of history and history resolves contradictions (Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis).
  3. Karl Marx (1818-1883): A Prussian-German philosopher, not happy to interpret the world, turned political-revolutionary; seeking to change the world.
  4. Friedrich E.D. Schleiermacher(1768-1834): “The Father of Modern Theology” who believed that inner “feelings” are the guide to religious truth = “Listen to your heart”
  5. Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855): Meaning comes only when the individual makes a non-rational “Leap of Faith”
  6. Rudolf Otto (1869–1937): The mystery of the Holy can be experienced but not really expressed.
  7. Karl Jaspers (1883-1969): Any attempt to institutionalize meaning destroys meaning. Seek the non-rational “final experience” to give meaning to life. 
  8. Maartin Heidegger (1889-1976): Authentication of faith comes from feeling over rational thought.
  9. Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980): “Why can’t we all just love the Lord?” BUT… what is the meaning of “love”? What is the meaning of “Lord”? Let your feelings decide what these words mean!

Ultimately, the significance of the experiential epistimoogy is that it reinforces the common idea that all religious truth is religious experienc

What is Pragmatism?

Pragmatism is the ideal that a person cannot think or even feel truth, but can only discover it by attempting to live it. Truth is not what is consistent or what is empirically adequate but what is exponentially workable.

One of the key thinkers who espoused pragamstism was Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914) , considered “The Father of Pragmatism”.  Pierce taught that meaning is found in what is both practical and what consistently works.

Discover some other important conclusions about Experientialism and Pragmatism by watching the video below.

Comments

  1. Jesse Gates says

    Dr. Miller, I believe in discussing experientialism you are really discussing subjectivism. True experientialism is better typified in Lakoff & Johnson’s Metaphors We Live By or Philosophy in the Flesh, and is more of a balance from extreme subjectivism and objectivism and demonstrates that the nature of our cognition and understanding of the world comes from our bodily experience in it. In a way, you have only repeated and encouraged caricatures of the philosophers you have discussed, not really what these philosophers’ are saying.

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In essentials unity, in nonessentials liberty, in all things charity. The Christian Apologetics Alliance (CAA) is united in our Statement of Faith. The CAA does not, as an organization, have positions on many of the doctrinal or theological debates that take place within the church. Our primary concern is to promote the gracious, rational defense of the central claims of Christianity and the critique of opposing systems of thought. The CAA joyfully welcomes Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and diverse Protestant believers, and we are committed to treating all these traditions with respect in our community.

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