Abstract
In 1975, the physician Raymond Moody published the bestseller Life after Life. Moody introduced the term ‘near-death experience’ in his book to describe specific experiences of people who have survived a life-threatening situation. Meanwhile, measuring instruments for the operationalization of near-death experiences have been developed and numerous, partly prospective, clinical studies have been conducted to investigate these experiences. While empirical research is already conducted on a high scientific level, there is still room for a systematic foundation for a philosophical and ontological interpretation of near-death experiences. Difficulties associated with the interpretation of near-death experiences are partly caused by the fact that the term ‘near-death experience’ is not used consistently in literature, but ambiguously and vaguely. Following the tradition of Analytic Philosophy, the aim of this work is to lay the linguistic foundations for a philosophical and ontological discussion of near-death experiences. In this context, we will distinguish between a near-death experience, a near-death memory and a near-death report, and present precise definitions of these terms. Finally, different ontological positions that can be formulated with the provided definitions will be presented.
Highlights
In his bestseller Life after Life (1975), Raymond Moody presented a qualitative psychological research study, in which he interviewed people who had been revived after being clinically dead [1]
Moody identifies 15 recurring elements that are repeatedly mentioned in the accounts of people who had a near-death experience: (1) the ineffability of the experience, (2) hearing that one is declared dead, (3) an intense feeling of peace, (4) the perception of noises, (5) the crossing of a tunnel, (6) the separation of consciousness from the physical body, (7) encountering deceased people, (8) meeting a being of light, (9) a life review, (10) reaching a border, (11) returning to one’s body, (12) trying to communicate, (13) after-effects on one’s life, (14) a new view of death, and (15) the corroboration of the reality of the experience [5, 6]
Definition 5 does not imply that a person with a near-death memory in the narrower sense had a NDE in the narrower sense
Summary
In his bestseller Life after Life (1975), Raymond Moody presented a qualitative psychological research study, in which he interviewed people who had been revived after being clinically dead [1]. Moody identifies 15 recurring elements that are repeatedly mentioned in the accounts of people who had a near-death experience: (1) the ineffability of the experience, (2) hearing that one is declared dead, (3) an intense feeling of peace, (4) the perception of noises, (5) the crossing of a tunnel, (6) the separation of consciousness from the physical body, (7) encountering deceased people, (8) meeting a being of light, (9) a life review, (10) reaching a border, (11) returning to one’s body, (12) trying to communicate, (13) after-effects on one’s life, (14) a new view of death, and (15) the corroboration of the reality of the experience [5, 6]. If NDEs were real experiences, this would have serious implications for our understanding of the human brain and consciousness
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