Making Sense of Near-Death Experience Research: Circumstance Specific Alterations of Consciousness
The growing body of research on near-death experiences (NDEs) is an indication of the large number of people claiming such experiences. A surprising feature of the research is that conceptually there is no agreement on what an NDE is and consequently a large number of definitions characterize this f...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
American Anthropological Association
[2019]
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In: |
Anthropology of consciousness
Year: 2019, Volume: 30, Issue: 1, Pages: 64-89 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Near-death-experience
/ Consciousness expansion
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RelBib Classification: | AE Psychology of religion ZD Psychology |
Further subjects: | B
NDE research
B definitions of NDEs B Near-death experiences B alteration of consciousness B survivalist hypothesis |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
Summary: | The growing body of research on near-death experiences (NDEs) is an indication of the large number of people claiming such experiences. A surprising feature of the research is that conceptually there is no agreement on what an NDE is and consequently a large number of definitions characterize this field of research. In order to address the definitional quagmire, a first step consists of making sense of NDE definitions. An analysis of existing definitions shows that the term is currently used for at least three distinct phenomena: a cluster of experiences encountered in the process of dying, for that cluster of experiences in circumstances of fear-death and danger, and for that cluster of experiences independently from any life-threatening circumstances. Secondly, the nested assumptions that characterize identified patterns in NDE research are identified. It is shown that pro-survivalists see NDEs as a unitary entity with a single explanation, while others restrict the study of NDEs to life-threatening circumstances and see them as a cluster of composite experiences. Based on this analysis it is argued that the pattern of experiences labeled NDEs can be modified to circumstance specific alterations of consciousness. |
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ISSN: | 1556-3537 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Anthropology of consciousness
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/anoc.12111 |