Physiological Challange

• Physiological - around how our body systems function.
• If RE are produced by the mind we should expect: that everyone can have them, RE should all be similar, once we know cause we should be able to reproduce RE in others.
• Patricia Churchland - observes that the brain is capable of hallucinatory activity, we need to be careful when understanding what is real/imaginary.
• Churchland - humans are the only animals that can predict their own death, to compensate we have a capacity for imagination and develop a religious sense that enables us to cope with the prospect of death. RE is an extention of this.
• Dawkins - recalls a person who heard 'the voice of the devil' but it was actually the call of the 'manx shearwater' (a bird). This highlights the issue with personal experiances. People could be ignorant of physical explanaion, and if religious are unwilling to listen to them. It is an argument based on ignorance.
• The 'god helmet' - Persiger (science experiment): tests effect of electrical stimulation on the brain associated with RE. An example of how an RE can be recreated in the lab. -RE is not actually god
• god helmet: people reported very simalar experiances to RE
• Counter to god helmet: Watts; Suggests it is not shocking that the brain is involved in RE. Brain is involved in everything we experiance. God makes RE occur via an electrical current. (but then how is RE different to normal experiance)