The public-private myth: Why religion can’t be kept behind closed doors

It makes no sense to talk about a “religious life” and a “public life” — there is just life.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Sir Edward Coke’s concept of the home as a private sanctuary laid the groundwork for the legal divide between public and private life, a divide Enlightenment philosophers had sympathy for.

• In this week’s Mini Philosophy interview, Simon Critchley critiques this Enlightenment legacy and argues that mystical experiences and religious beliefs shape public life more than we admit.

• Drawing on William James, Critchley urges us to take religious experience seriously as a valid form of knowledge and presence in philosophical discourse.