New Books in Psychology Hans Van Eyghen, "The Epistemology of Spirit Beliefs" (Routledge, 2023)
Jan 3, 2026
Hans Van Eyghen, an assistant professor of philosophy at Tilburg University, dives into the intriguing realm of spirit beliefs and their justification. He challenges the traditional God-centric approach in philosophy by exploring how experiences like mediumship and possession can lend epistemic support to beliefs in spirits. Van Eyghen discusses how cultural definitions of spirits differ across religions and argues against dismissive scientific explanations, proposing that these beliefs may be justified and essential in communities where spirits take precedence over God.
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Experiences Can Justify Spirit Beliefs
- Religious experiences that support belief in God can apply to spirit-beliefs when substituted in the same epistemic argument.
- Hans Van Eyghen argues spirit-experiences worldwide look trustworthy and aren't obviously defeated by special reasons to doubt them.
Cognitive Science Sparked The Project
- Van Eyghen recounts reading cognitive science literature that emphasized non-Western beings like spirits.
- That exposure prompted him to study whether spirit-beliefs are epistemically justified.
Cross-Cultural Spirit Category
- Most large traditions distinguish a supreme God from lesser spiritual beings like angels, demons, djinn, and yaksha.
- This cross-cultural distinction lets philosophers treat 'spirits' as a coherent category separate from God.
