January 1, 2020
Edward F. Kelly, Emily Williams Kelly, Adam Crabtree et al.
145 citations
The author argues that mainstream cognitive science and neuroscience fail to account for the full range of human mental phenomena, particularly those involving agency, selfhood, and subjective experience. Drawing on examples from psychical research, automatism, and mysticism, the text contends that the mind cannot be reduced to brain processes and that a broader, more inclusive framework is needed to understand consciousness. The review critically examines the assumptions of physicalism and reductionism, suggesting that empirical evidence from anomalous experiences supports a non-reductive view of mind.
January 1, 2009
Bruce Greyson, Emily Williams Kelly, Edward F. Kelly
88 citations
No Summary
Journal of Anomalous Experience and Cognition
October 18, 2022
Edward F. Kelly
3 citations
The Integrated Information Theory of consciousness (IIT) appears promising because it explains neuroscientific facts, makes testable predictions, and offers a technique for detecting consciousness in non-verbal organisms. However, the theory is fundamentally flawed. Key unresolved conceptual issues concern IIT's concept of "information" and its approach to the "hard problem" of consciousness. Empirical phenomena IIT cannot handle include: dissociative identity disorder with overlapping centers of consciousness in one organism; psychedelic states whose intense phenomenology is not reflected in neuroelectric activity; and near-death experiences during cardiac arrest, where IIT predicts no consciousness is possible. These arguments suggest IIT and its physicalist competitors are untenable, but scientifically and philosophically respectable alternatives exist.
Filozofija i drustvo
January 1, 2025
Edward F. Kelly
The rise of science has brought intellectual and practical achievements but also contributed to societal problems: environmental destruction, commodification, inequity, transactional relationships, militarism, nuclear threat, and disenchantment. These problems are linked to the split between science and spirituality fostered by physicalism, a doctrine rooted in 19th-century physics that dismisses spiritual traditions as irrational. A path toward a different science-based picture of reality is described, one that takes consciousness as ontologically fundamental, celebrates spiritual experiences, aligns with leading-edge science, and could help prevent modern civilization from self-annihilation.
Neuroimage
June 1, 2026
David J Acunzo, Andrea H Denton, Marina Weiler et al.
A systematic review of 143 reports on the neural correlates of extra-sensory perception (ESP) finds that definitive conclusions remain premature. Studies are categorized into explicit paradigms (assessing psi via overt responses) and implicit paradigms (assessing psi via neurophysiology alone). Most work used EEG (91%), followed by fMRI (5%). Recurrent methodological limitations include small sample sizes, inadequate multiple-comparison control, and analytical flexibility. Explicit paradigms rarely showed above-chance behavior, yet neural analyses were often conducted. Implicit paradigms reported heterogeneous findings that were seldom replicated. Potential leads for future research include alpha-band power in forced-choice designs and a target-related negative slow wave in event-related designs.