Irreducible Mind

Edward F. Kelly is currently Research Professor in the Department of Psychiatric Medicine at the University of Virginia. He is author of Computer Recognition of English Word Senses and Altered States of Consciousness and Psi: An Historical Survey and Research Prospectus. His central long term interests revolve around mind-brain relations and functional neuroimaging studies of unusual states of consciousness and associated cognitive phenomena.Emily Williams Kelly is currently Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatric Medicine at the University of Virginia.Adam Crabtree is currently on the faculty of the Centre for Training in Psychotherapy, Toronto.Alan Gauld is a retired Reader in Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, as well as past president of the Society for Psychical Research.Bruce Greyson is the Chester F. Carlson Professor of Psychiatry and director of the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia.Michael Grosso, though nominally retired, is currently teaching at the University of Virginia’s School of Continuing Education. He is currently a director of the American Philosophical Practitioner’s Association and Review Editor of the Journal of Philosophical Practice.

The authors have not only plausibly argued that the empirical and conceptual horizon of science, particularly the science of the human mind, is both capable and in dire need of expansion, but—and I use this strong term deliberately—they have proven it.

• Chapter 0 IntroductionChapter 0 Preface and AcknowledgementsChapter 1 A View from the Mainstream: Contemporary Cognitive Neuroscience and the Consciousness Debates: - A compact history of 20th-century psychology from behaviorism to present-day cognitive neuroscience, emphasizing the inability of these theories to account foChapter 2 F. W. H. Myers and the Empirical Study of the Mind-Body Problem: - An introduction to Myers, an important but neglected figure in 19th-century psychology whose work supports the view that mind is not generated by the brain but instead limited and constraiChapter 3 Psychophysiological Influence: - A review of numerous phenomena such as placebo, stigmata, and hypnotic suggestion that demonstrate the influence of mental states on the body. Beginning with phenomena now generally accepted because they appear compatible Chapter 4 Memory: - A critique of "trace" theories of memory, which have been taken as axiomatic by generations of psychologists and neuroscientists but are fraught with profound empirical and conceptual difficulties including those posed by a substantial body of wChapter 5 Automatism and Secondary Centers of Consciousness: - An examination of phenomena such as automatic writing and multiple personality that involve conscious psychological processes occurring outside, and often simultaneously with, ordinary waking consciousnChapter 6 Unusual Experiences Near Death and Related Phenomena: - An overview of near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, apparitions and deathbed visions, and related phenomena, emphasizing near-death experiences that occur under general anesthesia or duriChapter 7 Genius: - A discussion of the importance and challenge of genius level creativity for scientific psychology, emphasizing the need to move beyond pathologizing and to situate genius within an adequate general theory of human mind and personalityChapter 8 Mystical Experience: - An overview of psychological and physiological dimensions of this large and humanly vital — but scientifically neglected - family of "ecstatic" states of consciousness, which sometimes occur spontaneously or in response to psychedeChapter 9 Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century: - Having argued throughout for an enlarged scientific psychology that returns to psychology's great central problems and addresses the mind-body problem empirically, the authors conclude by showing that the theoreChapter 10 About the AuthorsChapter 11 ReferencesChapter 12 Appendix: An Annotated Introductory Bibliography of Psychical Research

1. 4/5

   Mastig men intressant

   Boken handlar om ett intressant ämne där positivistisk bevisföring är svår. Dock bör man för det inte avstå från att behandla ämnet. Boken är skriven av en forskargrupp vid "University of Virginia School of Medicine" i USA och består av ett antal kapitel som behandlar ämnen som minne, genialitet, mysticism med mera följt av en referenslista på 115 sidor. Språket är inte särskilt krångligt, men det kan ta lite tid att bli van vid forskarnas sätt att uttrycka sig. Författarnas avsikt är att via de belysta områdena, där många exempel ges, visa att det finns så mycket om inte bevis så starka indicier för t.ex. nära-dödenupplevelsers äkthet och betydelse att man inte kan bortse från alla dessa olika fenomen utan att allvarligt stympa sin förståelse av vad det är att vara människa och var vi passar in i livet. Min enda kritik är att de i vissa texter lutar sig väl mycket på F. W. H. Myers. Dock skall noteras att jag inte är professionell inom något av dessa områden, endast "intresserad allmänhet", varför jag inte egentligen kan kommentera hur riktigt eller felaktigt detta är. Detta är en mycket omfattande bok (650 sidor) men om man, som jag, är intresserad av området har man intressant läsning framför sig!

   Peter M

   10 augusti 2015