Current mainstream opinion in psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy
of mind holds that all aspects of human mind and consciousness are
generated by physical processes occurring in brains. Views of this
sort have dominated recent scholarly publication. The present volume,
however, demonstrates empirically that this reductive materialism is
not only incomplete but false. The authors systematically marshal
evidence for a variety of psychological phenomena that are extremely
difficult, and in some cases clearly impossible, to account for in
conventional physicalist terms. Topics addressed include phenomena of
extreme psychophysical influence, memory, psychological automatisms
and secondary personality, near-death experiences and allied
phenomena, genius-level creativity, and 'mystical' states of
consciousness both spontaneous and drug-induced. The authors further
show that these rogue phenomena are more readily accommodated by an
alternative 'transmission' or 'filter' theory of mind/brain relations
advanced over a century ago by a largely forgotten genius, F. W. H.
Myers, and developed further by his friend and colleague William
James. This theory, moreover, ratifies the commonsense conception of
human beings as causally effective conscious agents, and is fully
compatible with leading-edge physics and neuroscience. The book should
command the attention of all open-minded persons concerned with the
still-unsolved mysteries of the mind.
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Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781442202078
Publisert
2015
Utgiver
Vendor
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok