Transformative Experiences

Abstract

Transformative experiences are experiential states that radically alter a person in some way, such as what the person can know or understand, their core values or preferences, their overall outlook on the world, and so on. Notable historical examples plausibly include the Apostle Paul's epiphany and sudden conversion to Christianity on the road to Damascus, St. Augustine's moral and spiritual transformation after the death of a close friend, and similar transformations by the Buddha and Muhammed. Such experiences have been argued to pose philosophical challenges for rational choice, as it appears unclear how one can make rational life‐choices about experiences one does not understand or which otherwise fundamentally transform oneself or one's values. Some theorists argue that rational choices involving transformative experiences are impossible. Others argue that transformative experiences instead pose a challenge to making choices that are both rational and authentic. Others still are unconvinced that transformative experiences pose any serious or unique problems to rational choice, contending that the problems they present are either exaggerated or reducible to problems unrelated to transformative experience. Finally, many solutions have been advanced for resolving the problems that transformative experiences are alleged to pose, including that transformative experiences can be chosen for their own sake, chosen on the basis of objective evidence such as statistics and testimony, chosen on the basis of imaginative comparison to relevantly similar past experiences, or, alternatively, be rationally grappled with by the development of internal mastery such as personal resilience or through moral behavior.