An Essay in Aid of Newman's Theory of Development: A Metaphysics for 'Religious Impressions'

John Henry Newman (1843) defends the position that there isn’t anything the Church ought to believe today that it hasn’t always held since the beginning. This is a bold claim, for it seems to commit Newman to the view that the early church held propositions to be true that it was not then conscious of believing. While Newman seeks to smooth this over by invoking what he calls “religious impressions”, it is unclear that these are in the right shape metaphysically to serve their intended role. In this paper I draw on recent work in the philosophy of perception to defend Newman’s proposal.