About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherRowman & Littlefield Publishers, Incorporated

ISBN-100742547922

ISBN-139780742547926

eBay Product ID (ePID)57191543

Product Key Features

Book TitleIrreducible Mind : Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century

Number of Pages800 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicHypnotism, Mind & Body, General, Logic

Publication Year2006

GenrePhilosophy, Psychology

AuthorAdam Crabtree, Emily Williams Kelly, Edward F. Kelly, Alan Gauld, Michael Grosso

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1.9 in

Item Weight0 Oz

Item Length9.3 in

Item Width6.3 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2006-023474

ReviewsThe 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., a sustained, sophisticated, and empirically based critique of contemporary cognitive psychology and mainstream neuroscience... the implications for the study of mind, consciousness, and religion border on the unspeakable., a comprehensive review of empirical evidence that questions the assumption that "properties of minds will ultimately be fully explained by those of brains"...Kelly et al. deserve to be praised for their courage and scholarship in dealing with such a controversial topic., Irreducible Mind is well written, detailed, and passionately argued, and should be central to parapyschology for some years to come. Its great value is that it helps to close the gap between the conventional view of mind on the one hand, and on the other, responsible research into phenomena which are utterly antithetical to that view. In that sense, it greatly advances the process that Myers began more than a century ago, but was so rudely interrupted by behaviourism and the virtual outlawing of consciousness as a scientific entity., ...brilliant, heroic and astonishing ... a scientifically rigorous and philosophically informed critique of various contemporary orthodoxies in mainstream psychology, especially the idea that the human mind (including consciousness and our sense of free will and personal agency) is nothing more than a material entity and can be fully explained in terms of brain processes., a monumental work...Only a very resistant observer will remain unpersuaded that a proportion, as least, of all this carefully evaluated data presents a significant challenge to conventional views, Irreducible Mind is an enormous and daring enterprise. Its scholarship is impressive... and made me think long and hard about many issues., Irreducible Mind [is] yet another book on the mind-body problem. However, this book is different, very different, from all the rest... In the future history of the science of mind, Irreducible Mind may well prove a book of landmark significance, one that helped spark a revolution in the scientific investigation of the nature of consciousness... In the arena of neuroscience of mind, it is the most exciting reading to have crossed my path in years., Thoroughly scientific, systematically reasoned and courageous... as exciting and enjoyable as it is provocative and profound!, 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.

Dewey Edition22

Dewey Decimal150

Table Of ContentChapter 0 Introduction Chapter 0 Preface and Acknowledgements Chapter 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 fo Chapter 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 constrai Chapter 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 w Chapter 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 consciousn Chapter 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 duri Chapter 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 personality Chapter 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 psychede Chapter 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 theore Chapter 10 About the Authors Chapter 11 References Chapter 12 Appendix: An Annotated Introductory Bibliography of Psychical Research

SynopsisCurrent 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., Practically every contemporary mainstream scientist presumes that all aspects of mind are generated by brain activity. We demonstrate the inadequacy of this picture by assembling evidence for a variety of empirical phenomena which it cannot explain. We further show that an alternative picture developed by F. W. H. Myers and William James successfully accommodates these phenomena, ratifies the common sense view of ourselves as causally effective conscious agents, and is fully compatible with contemporary physics and neuroscience.

LC Classification NumberBF121.K38 2006