Volume 6, Issue 1 (8-2025)
پژوهش های مابعدالطبیعی 2025, 6(1): 153-184 |
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Qorbani H, Mohammadi M. Review of Realistic Representation of Worldly Perceptions in Near-Death Experiences. پژوهش های مابعدالطبیعی 2025; 6 (1) :153-184
URL: http://mi.khu.ac.ir/article-1-329-en.html
URL: http://mi.khu.ac.ir/article-1-329-en.html
1- University of Mazadaran, Babolsar, Iran
2- University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran ,Masihjazi@gmail.com
2- University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran ,
Abstract: (1404 Views)
Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) represent a unique class of perceptions that offer profound insights into the human condition at the threshold of death. These experiences invite both epistemological and ontological examination, a process essential for assessing their epistemic validity. The primary goal of this article is to critically evaluate physicalist accounts that dismiss NDEs as mere hallucinatory phenomena. Using a descriptive-analytical approach and relying on comprehensive library-based research, this study shows that the perceptions reported during NDEs generally fall into two categories: subjective, other-worldly phenomena and objective, this-worldly observations, each with its own distinctive characteristics. The first category includes experiences such as traveling through a light-filled tunnel, encountering preternatural beings, and seeing deceased relatives or spiritual figures. The second category involves observations of tangible physical events occurring either in the patient’s immediate surroundings or even at a distance from their physical body. Remarkably, such reports often emerge under conditions of sensory deprivation (e.g., with eyes closed) and significantly reduced cortical activity.
This article examines credible international research on this-worldly aspects of NDEs to challenge conventional hallucinatory explanations. The critique unfolds through four main lines of argument: (1) the objective nature of reported perceptions, (2) the recurrence of shared experiential patterns, (3) philosophical reflections on the mind’s capacity to function independently of the physical body, and (4) the fundamental problem of phenomenal awareness. Crucially, the observation of real-world events during NDEs, particularly when supported by medical documentation, renders these experiences open to epistemic validation.
Keywords: Near-Death Experiences (NDE), Veridical Out-of-Body Experience (Veridical OBE), Extrasensory Perception (ESP), Consciousness, This-worldly perceptions, Objective reality.
Type of Study: Original Article |
Subject:
Philosophy
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