A Space for the Ineffable
Mark Freeman
June 27, 2023 DOI: 10.4324/9780429323652-9 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that psychology should include ostensibly transcendent experiences, such as aesthetic and religious experiences, within its scope despite their ineffability, and proposes that the psychological humanities are better suited than the psychological sciences to engage and express what eludes existing modes of inquiry. |
Abstract
This chapter takes on the daunting, and for some controversial, challenge of including, within the scope of psychological inquiry, those ostensibly “transcendent” experiences, such as aesthetic and religious experiences, that, in their very ineffability, elude extant modes and that, consequently, have often been considered outside the scope of the discipline. Putting aside the question of whether such experiences truly bespeak a transcendent realm, understood as being outside the perimeter of the self and thus wholly, and truly, other, the task of exploring such experiences and doing justice to their sheer presence remains. This task is nothing less than that of seeking to engage and express the inexpressible, and if it cannot properly be done within the confines of the psychological sciences, it is only fitting that the psychological humanities rise to the occasion.