In the Event of Death

Abstract

In the past few years there has been evidence of a greatly increased public and professional interest in issues surrounding death and dying. One such area of interest, the psychomatic experiences reported as having occurred in near-death situations before resuscitation, offers many speculative considerations for philosophical psychology. These reported exosomatic experiences have many elements in common with those reported in altered states of consciousness. The vivid out-of-the-body imagery in such experiences raises potential questions concerning the specialization and evolutionary-developmental structuring of consciousness, the nature of hallucinations, and the significance of deep conceptual roots of dualism within contemporary culture. Such questions take on more than theoretical importance when ethical questions about rights and resuscitation are raised.