True Epistemic Value of Religious ExperiencesFor many years, the idea of ​​what it means to have a "religious experience" has been widely debated. Philosophers and great thinkers have grappled with many questions, such as what constitutes a “religious experience” and the difference between it and a mystical experience. Part of this great debate involves two philosophers of a similar era, William James and CD Broad, who each viewed these experiments, despite some similarities, as having different epistemic values. Broad proposes that these religious experiences can provide strong validation of a higher existence, while James takes more of a perennial view, in which all of the world's religious traditions have a common belief about the world; therefore, his idea of ​​mystical experiences does not really support the idea of ​​a supreme being. I believe that neither James nor Broad is entirely right and that the epistemic value of religious experiences instead lies somewhere between their views. When a person goes through such an event, he or she feels the presence of a higher power such as G-d, or Jesus or Muhammad or whatever that higher being is. Broad states, however, that a certain degree of skepticism is necessary when talking about religious experiences to other people, especially those who have never experienced them before. Broad says that "when people without religious experience consider themselves to be superior in the field to those who have it, their attitude should be treated simply as stupid and offensive (Broad 121)." This in combination with his point about these experiments leading to...... middle of article ......0.Pojman, Louis P. and Michael C. Rea. “The Argument from Religious Experience.” In Philosophy of Religions: An Anthology. 6th ed. Boston, MA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2012. 120-126. Stahlman, Sandy. “William James defines mysticism (synopsis).” William James defines mysticism (synopsis). http://sandra.stahlman.com/james.html (accessed March 1, 2014). Pojman, Louis P. and Michael C. Rea. “Religious experience”. In Philosophy of Religions: An Anthology. 6th ed. Boston, MA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2012. 224-240. Pojman, Louis P. and Michael C. Rea. “The Argument from Religious Experience.” In Philosophy of Religions: An Anthology. 6th ed. Boston, MA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2012. 120-126. Stahlman, Sandy. “William James defines mysticism (synopsis).” William James defines mysticism (synopsis). http://sandra.stahlman.com/james.html (accessed March 1, 2014).