William Alston and the direct perception of God

Abstract

In his book Perceiving God, William Alston claims that some mystical experiences are direct perceptions of God. Many theists will find this claim extraordinary, if not absurd. In this article the author shows that the property of "directness" is radically ambiguous. She claims that Alston has transferred a modified version of what she calls "physical object direct awareness (perception)" to a direct awareness (perception) of God. The author then shows why this cannot coherently succeed.