Journal of the history of the neurosciences
1995
F Schiller
Since antiquity this tiny intracranial appendicular organ has aroused sexual connotations and denials. Controversial and enigmatic, it played a significant part in the development of endocrinology and even neurosurgery. What was its histology, what was its role as a gland so intimately attached to the brain? What did comparative anatomists make of it in the light of its function as a 'third...
Perception
1995
A I Cogan
An overview is presented in which visual awareness is regarded as the epitome of the general mind-body problem. An experimental solution of the problem is considered first, followed by a philosophical outlook. It is argued that the scientific approach may eventually discover the neural correlate of visual awareness, but visual perceptions, even simple qualia like 'brightness' or 'color', occur...
Numen
1995
Robert H. Sharf
395 citations
Abstract The category “experience” has played a cardinal role in modern studies of buddhism. Few scholars seem to question the notion that Buddhist monastic practice, particularly meditation, is intended first and foremost to inculcate specific religious or “mystical” experiences in the minds of practitioners. Accordingly, a wide variety of Buddhist technical terms pertaining to the “stages on...
Journal of Theoretical Biology
November 7, 1994
G Hesslow
This paper is a defence of a pragmatic version of mind-brain reductionism from a neuroscientist's point of view. It is claimed that there are good reasons to believe that future neuroscience will be able to explain (in a weak and pragmatic sense) the puzzling aspects of mind and consciousness. Opposition to reductionism comes from both philosophical and empirical quarters. It is argued here...
American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis
October 1, 1994
Steven Jay Lynn, Cornelia Maré, Steven A. Kvaal et al.
17 citations
This article summarizes data from three studies (Maré, Lynn, Kvaal, Segal, & Sivec, in press; Lynn, Maré, Kvaal, Segal, & Sivec, 1993) designed to extend research on the "hidden observer" to two phenomena of clinical relevance: hypnotic dreams and suggested age regression. Subjects received suggestions for a hypnotic dream or age regression and then received suggestions for a "hidden observer"...
Cambridge University Press eBooks
September 29, 1994
Barry Windeatt
1 citation
(Chapters 44, 45, 46) ‘This hevenly boke more precyous than golde’ is the description of The Scale of Perfection in Wynkyn de Worde's edition of 1494, the first printed text of English mystical writing and published at the behest of Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. The title seems ill-suited, in that imagery of a ladder (Latin: scald) is not the unifying concept, and other titles in...
Inquiry
September 1, 1994
John Smythies
18 citations
This paper examines the impact that recent advances in clinical neurology, introspectionist psychology and neuroscience have upon the philosophical psycho‐neural Identity Theory. Topics covered include (i) the nature and properties of phenomenal consciousness based on a study of the ‘basic’ visual field, i.e. that obtained in the complete dark, the Ganzfeld, and during recovery from occipital...
Journal of Drug Issues
July 1, 1994
Richard Glen Boire
2 citations
The relationship between religious experience and alternative states of consciousness is as old as humanity itself. From time immemorial, visionary states have been entered through the ritual use of mind-changing substances. Despite the uncontrovertedfact that particular substances have been used for thousands of years to achieve religious experiences and insights, the federal drug laws fail to...
Noûs
June 1, 1994
Michael Tye
54 citations
L'A. developpe un argument d'ordre intentionnaliste contre l'application de la notion de qualia au domaine des experiences de la perception, et rejette a la fois la theorie du contenu de la perception et l'hypothese classique du spectre inverse dans un monde inverse
Anthropology of Consciousness
June 1, 1994
Douglass Price‐williams, Dureen J. Hughes
27 citations
There has been a renewed interest in psychology and anthropology in the idea of altered states of consciousness. This paper begins by examining the meaning of this term and the extent to which such experiences are reported globally. The topic of shamanism is then discussed, first with respect to its social functions, and then to what is known about its psychological aspects (which is little)....