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...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. VerfasserIn: Craffert, Pieter F. (VerfasserIn)
Medienart: Elektronisch Aufsatz
Sprache:Englisch
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Veröffentlicht: American Anthropological Association [2019]
In: Anthropology of consciousness
Jahr: 2019, Band: 30, Heft: 1, Seiten: 64-89
normierte Schlagwort(-folgen):B Nahtoderfahrung / Bewusstseinserweiterung
RelBib Classification:AE Religionspsychologie
ZD Psychologie
weitere Schlagwörter:B NDE research
B definitions of NDEs
B Near-death experiences
B alteration of consciousness
B survivalist hypothesis
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Zusammenfassung: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.
ISSN:1556-3537
Enthält:Enthalten in: Anthropology of consciousness
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/anoc.12111