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32Richard Swinburne on Religious Experience1000-Word Philosophy. 2025.Philosopher Richard Swinburne (b. 1934) attempts to categorize these different types of religious experience. He argues that such experiences are usually some evidence for the existence of whatever people believe they encounter. This essay summarizes Swinburne’s philosophy of religious experience.
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37Martin Heidegger on Technology1000-Word Philosophy. 2025.Philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) argues that the main problem with technology’s dominance is how it limits our thinking and what we experience as human beings. Heidegger presents this view in a philosophy of technology that seeks to identify the defining characteristic or essence of modern technology. This essay summarizes Heidegger’s theory.
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Phenomenology: Describing Experiences From a First-Person Perspective1000-Word Philosophy. 2025.The philosophical method called phenomenology tries to understand experiences from the inside, i.e., what it’s like to live through different types of experiences from the individual experiencer’s own point of view. This essay introduces phenomenology’s attempt to achieve this understanding of our experiences.
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45Rudolf Otto on "Numinous" Religious Experience1000-Word Philosophy. 2025.German philosopher and theologian Rudolf Otto (1869-1937) coined the term “numinous” and described numinous religious experience in his influential 1917 book "The Idea of the Holy." This essay introduces Otto’s theory.
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21Jean-Luc Marion on 'Saturated Phenomena': What Are Mind-blowing Experiences?1000-Word Philosophy. 2025.This essay introduces French philosopher Jean-Luc Marion's concept of "saturated phenomena"—things people seem to experience (e.g., artworks, romantic partners, spiritual realities, etc.) that “blow your mind”—an important idea in the school of philosophy known as “phenomenology.”
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552Philosophy of Mysticism: Do Mystical Experiences Justify Religious Beliefs?1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology. 2023.Mysticism refers to religious traditions devoted to cultivating altered states of consciousness called “mystical experiences.” During these experiences, mystics feel “one” with a supernatural being, or they have other types of experiences in which they allegedly perceive unity through direct contact with some fundamental aspect of reality. Mystics tend to believe that their mystical experiences justify their religious beliefs. This essay reviews philosophical attempts to define mystical experien…Read more
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770William James on Mystical Experience1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology. 2024.Some Christians claim to sense Jesus’ presence; some Hindus feel “one” with what they view as the permanent core of reality (i.e., Brahman); some “spiritual but not religious” people experience ecstatically losing themselves in the vast expanse of the universe. These are all examples of mystical experiences. But what defines a mystical experience? In his landmark study The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) William James (1842-1910) attempts to define the common features shared by all myst…Read more
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635Martin Heidegger on Being: Why is There Something Rather than Nothing?1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology. 2024.While witnessing the birth of a child, or a flower newly in bloom in early spring, you might begin to reflect on existence in general and feel amazed by the simple mind-blowing fact that anything exists—that there is something (not anything in particular, but anything at all) rather than nothing. In doing so, you are experiencing wonder at what Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) calls Being. This essay summarizes Heidegger’s notion of Being.
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1011Immanuel Kant’s Theory of the Sublime1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology. 2023.While experiences of the sublime are often overwhelming and overpowering, overall they are deeply empowering. According to Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), the sublime empowers us by revealing the greatness (i.e., the sublimity) of our rational minds. This essay summarizes Kant’s theory of the sublime.
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72Sacred Communication in the Writings of Georges BatailleInternational Studies in Philosophy 36 (2): 79-94. 2004.
Matthew Sanderson
West Shore Community College, Scottville, Michigan
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West Shore Community College, Scottville, MichiganRegular Faculty
Areas of Specialization
| Philosophical Traditions |
| Value Theory |
| Philosophy of Religion |
| Continental Philosophy |
| Aesthetics |