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Mysticism and Philosophy

Author	Walter Terence Stace
Language	English
Subject	Mysticism, Philosophy
Publication date	1960
OCLC	1097595

Mysticism and Philosophy is book by W. T. Stace that presents a philosophical analysis of mystical experience. First published in 1960 in London by Macmillan, the book was reviewed in several scholarly journals, and has been translated into Chinese, Turkish, and Persian.

Background

Stace taught at Princeton University, in a philosophy department that has been described as the "most prestigious American stronghold" of analytic philosophy, a philosophical tradition not known for its sympathy to religion or mysticism. Huston Smith has suggested that

The best way to locate [Stace's] book in the story of twentieth-century philosophy is to see it as an answer to Bertrand Russell's essay, Mysticism and Logic.... [which] dismissed out of hand the possibility that [mystical] experiences might carry news of reality. Stace's study reaches the opposite... verdict: "That mystical experience is not merely subjective, but is in very truth what the mystics themselves claim, namely a direct experience of the One, the universal Self, God..." To sense the courage it took to write that sentence in the late 1950s one needs to remember that for half of this century Bertrand Russell — co-author of the epoch-making Principia Mathematica, which... set philosophy on a new course — was the hero of the analytic philosophers who ruled the roost in the English-speaking world.

Topics covered

In "Presuppositions of the Enquiry", the opening chapter, Stace explains that he will focus on the influence mysticism is "logically entitled" to have on philosophy, not on the actual history of such influence. Stace rejects Bertrand Russell's characterization of mysticism as only emotional, pointing out that mystics "ought to know what the experiences themselves are like better than Russell [and] they invariably say that they are more like perceptions than emotions". While acknowledging the disadvantages of scholars who lack direct mystical experience, Stace affirms that non-mystics might make valuable contributions, even as a blind man might contribute to the physics of light and color. Stace also affirms that "it is important as well as possible to make a distinction between a mystical experience itself and the conceptual interpretations which may be put opon it". Stace regards the book's conclusions as more like an "interpretation" of mysticism than as an inductive or deductive inference.

Chapter 2 is entitled "The Problem of the Universal Core" (pp. 41-133). Stace defines mystical phenomena as excluding "visions and voices"; thus, the voice and vision experienced by Apostle Paul's on the road to Damascus "should not as such be classed as mystical experiences, although there may be other grounds for classifying [Paul] as a mystic".

Common Characteristics of Mystical Experiences (pp. 131-2)
	Extrovertive	Introvertive
1.	The Unifying Vision — all things are One	The Unitary Consciousness; the One, the Void; pure consciousness
2.	The more concrete apprehension of the One as an inner subjectivity, or life, in all things	Nonspatial, nontemporal
3.	Sense of objectivity or reality
4.	Blessedness, peace, etc.
5.	Feeling of the holy, sacred, or divine
6.	Paradoxicality
7.	Alleged by mystics to be ineffable

Chapter 3, entitled "The Problem of Objective Reference" both asks and attempts to answer this question: "...what, if anything, the mystical experience tells us about reality," as Huston Smith puts it in his Forward (see page 7). In this chapter Stace presents the following as evidence for objectivity: 1. a unanimity of reports from witnesses, i.e., the mystics themselves, over long periods of time and from widely diverse locations; and 2. order. This latter characteristic refers to "the 'constant conjunction' of specifiable items" (page 140). Stace identifies the core experience defining mysticism, whether of the 'introvertive' or 'extrovertive' type, as a state of awareness in which "...all sensations and images are specifically excluded" (page 144). Stace endeavors to prove by logic that this state is neither subjective nor objective but is, instead, "trans-subjective" (page 146). Also by means of logic Stace is able to claim that "...the Universal Self, then, is the creator. Its creativity consists in its self-differentiation" (page 181). Stace summarizes chapter 3's core finding by writing "that mystical experience is not merely subjective, but is in very truth what the mystics themselves claim, namely a direct experience of the One, the universal Sef, God. We adopt this as our settled opinion for the remainder of this book" (page 207).

Smith described Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 as "the book's two pivotal chapters that make it remarkable."

The five remaining chapters are shorter in length, and build upon the conclusions of the earlier chapters, applying them to topics of special interest. "Pantheism, Dualism, and Monism" (Chapter 4) addresses the question of whether mystical experience "throws any light" on the relation between God and the world ("identical... or... wholly distinct? Or... some other possibility?"). Stace defines pantheism as a philosophy which asserts together the two following propositions, which he defines as the "pantheistic paradox":

1. The world is identical with God.
2. The world is distinct from, that is to say, not identical with, God.

In this chapter, Stace critiques dualism and monism, and adduces evidence that "pantheism, not either dualism or monism, is the correct statement of mysticism".

In "Mysticism and Logic" (Chapter 5), Stace argues that {XXX}. Stace expresses disagreement with Rudolf Otto's view that mysticism has a "peculiar logic of its own", insisting that "there is only one kind of logic".

Reception and influence

Reviews have appeared in

Philosophy (Leo Robertson \nohaveauthorpage),

The Philosophical Review (W. T. Kennick \nohaveauthorpage),

The Journal of Philosophy (C. J. Ducasse),

The Philosophical Quarterly (Ninian Smart),

Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (Helmut Kuhn \nopage),

Philosophy East and West (Walter Houston Clark \nopage; multiple reviews).

In Philosophy, Leo Robertson said {QUOTE}

In The Philosophical Review, W. T. Kennick said {QUOTE}

In The Journal of Philosophy, C. J. Ducasse said {QUOTE}

In The Philosophical Quarterly, Ninian Smart said {QUOTE} In Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Helmut Kuhn said {QUOTE}

In Philosophy East and West, Walter Houston Clark said {QUOTE}

In 1961, the book won the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award from the Phi Beta Kappa Society for "scholarly studies that contribute significantly to interpretations of the intellectual and cultural condition of humanity".

In his foreword to the 1987 edition, Huston Smith wrote

That a study of mysticism of this order emerged not from a cloister but from a hardheaded department of analytic philosophy, countering at every turn the prejudices against mysticism (and religion generally) that encrusted those departments in Stace's day, leaves one wondering which should be credited more: the independence and objectivity of its author... or the power of the subject to stand its ground.... The irony is almost poetic. It makes us think of lotuses emerging from mud, or kings born in stables.

Smith stated that Stace's Chapter 2 distinction between introvertive and extrovertive mysticism had become standard for studies in the field", and that the entire chapter had "held up remarkably well [and] reads as if it had been written yesterday, with nothing needing to be added, deleted, or revised."

In the late 1970s, as social constructionist perspectives began to emerge across the social sciences, Steven Katz criticized Mysticism and Philosophy from a social constructivist perspective. Katz's criticism became influential, but also provoked controversy and disagreement, as other scholars defended Stace's common core thesis and overall approach.

Empirical research

The view of mysticism described in the book served as a basis of a research program launched in 1975 by psychologist Ralph W. Hood. Hood developed a self-report questionnaire for assessing mystical experiences. His research showed that the scale revealed three underlying facets or dimensions of a responder's mystical experience, which, in line with Stace's theories, he called introvertive, extrovertive, and religious interpretation. Hood's research showed that these same three dimensions of response occurred in US Christians and Iranian Muslims, and a similar structure among Chinese Buddhist monks and nuns. Hood and his colleagues concluded that their findings "lend strong support to the thesis that the phenomenology of mystical experience reveals a common experiential core that can be discerned across religious and spiritual traditions", and offer "general support for Stace’s phenomenology of mysticism, although the ineffability he linked with interpretation proved to be as much or even more a feature of the introvertive experience".

Editions

Multiple editions have appeared. Major US editions include:

• Stace, W. T.; Smith, Huston (foreword) (1987). Mysticism and philosophy. Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher. ISBN 0874774160. ISBN 9780874774160, OCLC 14692023 (349 pages)
• Stace, W. T. (1960). Mysticism and Philosophy. Los Angeles, CA: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc. OCLC 657975725 (349 pages)

Major UK editions include:

• Stace, W. T. (1972). Mysticism and Philosophy. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0333082745. ISBN 9780333082744, OCLC 472505900 (349 pages)
• Stace, W. T. (1960). Mysticism and Philosophy. London: Macmillan. OCLC 870868793 (349 pages)

Chinese edition:

• Stace, W. T.; Yang, Rubin (trans.) (1998). 冥契主義與哲學 (Ming qi zhu yi yu zhe xue / Mysticism and Philosophy) (in Chinese) (Tai chu ban ed.). Taipei, Taiwan: Zheng zhong shu ju. ISBN 9570911549. ISBN 9789570911541 OCLC 43760949 (516 pages)

Turkish edition:

• Stace, Walter T.; Tüzer, Abdullatif (trans.) (2004). Mistisizm ve felsefe (Mysticism and Philosophy) (in Turkish). İstanbul, Turkey: İnsan Yayınları. ISBN 9789755743783. ISBN 9755743782 OCLC 57965281 (352 pages)

Persian editions:

• Istaȳs, V.T. (W. T. Stace); Khuramshāhī, Bahāʻāl-Dīn (trans.) (1384 (2005 or 2006)). عارفان و فالسافه (ʻIrfān va fālsāfah / Mysticism and Philosophy) (Chāp-i shishom ed.). Tehran, Iran: Surūsh. ISBN 964376270X. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) ISBN 9789643762704, OCLC 243705589 (384 pages)

• Earlier Persian editions are reported to have appeared in 1980 (OCLC 79913010), 1982 (OCLC 872590596), and 1988 (OCLC 22416148)

See also

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External links

• Full online text

Category:1960 books