Epiphanies: An Ethics of Experience - Hardcover

by Sophie Grace Chappell (Author)

Epiphanies is a philosophical exploration of epiphanies, peak experiences, 'wow moments', or ecstasies as they are sometimes called.
What are epiphanies, and why do so many people so frequently experience them? Are they just transient phenomena in our brains, or are they the revelations of objective value that they very often seem to be? What do they tell us about the world, and about ourselves? How, if at all, do epiphanies fit in with our moral systems and our theories of how to live? And how do epiphanic experiences fit in with the rest of our lives?
These are Sophie Grace Chappell's questions in this ground-breaking new study of an area of inquiry that has always been right under our noses, but remains surprisingly under-explored in contemporary philosophy.

Author Biography

Sophie Grace Chappell is Professor of Philosophy at the Open University. She was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and Edinburgh University. She was Leverhulme Major Research Fellow 2017-2020, a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at St Andrews 2017-2020, and Erskine Research Fellow, University of Canterbury, NZ, Spring 2020. Since 2021 she has been Executive Editor of The Philosophical Quarterly. She has also held visiting appointments in the Universities of St Andrews, Edinburgh, Glasgow, British Columbia, Stirling, Reykjavik, and Oslo. She has published over 150 articles on ethics, moral psychology, epistemology, ancient philosophy, and philosophy of religion. Her books include Knowing What to Do: Imagination, Virtue, and Platonism in Ethics (OUP, 2014) and Values and Virtues (ed., OUP, 2007). She is the UK's first openly transgender philosophy academic, having transitioned in 2014, and campaigns actively on feminist and transgender issues.