Near-death experiences between science and prejudice
Enrico Facco, Christian Agrillo
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2012 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00209 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Near-death experience |
| Citations | 87 |
| Key points | Argues that psychobiological interpretations of NDEs are speculative and that facts incompatible with current paradigms should not be rejected a priori. |
Abstract
Science exists to refute dogmas; nevertheless, dogmas may be introduced when undemonstrated scientific axioms lead us to reject facts incompatible with them. Several studies have proposed psychobiological interpretations of near-death experiences (NDEs), claiming that NDEs are a mere byproduct of brain functions gone awry; however, relevant facts incompatible with the ruling physicalist and reductionist stance have been often neglected. The awkward transcendent look of NDEs has deep epistemological implications, which call for: (a) keeping a rigorously neutral position, neither accepting nor refusing anything a priori; and (b) distinguishing facts from speculations and fallacies. Most available psychobiological interpretations remain so far speculations to be demonstrated, while brain disorders and/or drug administration in critical patients yield a well-known delirium in intensive care and anesthesia, the phenomenology of which is different from NDEs. Facts can be only true or false, never paranormal. In this sense, they cannot be refused a priori even when they appear implausible with respect to our current knowledge: any other stance implies the risk of turning knowledge into dogma and the adopted paradigm into a sort of theology.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on near-death experience, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-Death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times | 1987 | Historical analysis | |
| Neuroscience and the Near-Death Experience: Roles for the NMSA-PCP receptor, the sigma receptor and the endopsychosins | 1990 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Implications of near-death experiences for a postmaterialist psychology. | 2010 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Near-Death Experience as a Probe to Explore (Disconnected) Consciousness | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Religion, Spirituality and the Near-Death Experience | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 33
- Epistemological implications of near-death experiences and other non-ordinary mental expressions: Moving beyond the concept of altered state of consciousness Medical Hypotheses April 11, 2015
- Semiology and Mechanisms of Near-Death Experiences Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports July 27, 2019
- Near death experiences: a multidisciplinary hypothesis Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2013
- THE NEUROPHENOMENOLOGY OF OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCES INDUCED BY HYPNOTIC SUGGESTIONS International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis January 2, 2019
- Almost 40 Years Investigating Near-Death Experiences The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease October 29, 2014
and 28 more in the library
Cites 37
- The Experimental Induction of Out-of-Body Experiences Science August 23, 2007
- Out‐of‐body experience and autoscopy of neurological origin Brain January 15, 2004
- Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands The Lancet December 1, 2001
- The Out-of-Body Experience: Disturbed Self-Processing at the Temporo-Parietal Junction The Neuroscientist January 4, 2005
- Psychobiology of Altered States of Consciousness. Psychological Bulletin 2005
and 32 more in the library