Steven T. Katz's Philosophy of Mysticism Revisited
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8202149 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Torben Hammersholt (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 81 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 467-490 |
| Publication date | 2013-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the American Academy of Religion (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-7189 • E-ISSN: 1477-4585 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jaarel/lft001 |
| OpenAlex | W1981439177 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 5 |
“Language, Epistemology, and Mysticism” (1978) by Steven T. Katz is now a classic essay in research on mysticism. I argue that it, and Katz's work on mysticism as a whole, has been largely misunderstood. In his academic work on mysticism, Katz should not be interpreted as saying that mystical experiences are nothing but contextual conditioned mind-constructs, as the common reading goes, nor does he say that a transcendent reality is, as a matter of ontological fact, always involved in mystical experiences. He tries to balance an agnosticism between these two positions. The failure to grasp the special nature of Katz's agnosticism has, it seems reasonable to say, caused much of the confusion surrounding his work. Moreover, it is argued that Katz's contextualism is not, as is very often assumed, founded on an a priori epistemological ground. At least not in the way the common interpretation goes.
Agnosticism · Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy) · Linguistics · Mysticism · Nothing · Reading (process) · Theology · Philosophy · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices · Theology and Philosophy of Evil
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,83 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2023 (4) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |