Does emergence explain Near Death Experiences?
Near Death Experiences challenge the physicalist belief system, but is emergence a possible explanation that can preserve a form of physicalism?
Of the many and increasing mysteries of nature, two may be the biggest: how did life begin and how can we explain consciousness?
Many seem excited about a possible emerging answer to both: emergence. I’ve drawn attention in previous posts about the seemingly increasing number of references in popular scientific channels to emergence and complexity theory as the rather obvious answer to these mysteries. My concern is that these seldom attempt to explain how emergence works to resolve these great questions. As I’ll suggest in this post, neither do those who are at the cutting edge of this research.
My attention was drawn to an interesting article in the latest version of Theology and Science, a publication of the Graduate Theological Union’s Center for Theology and Natural Science. The article was by Jonathan Kopel, a seventh year MD and PhD student at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. It dealt with two favorite subjects: Near Death Experiences (NDEs) and emergentism. It was titled: “Near Death Experiences and Emergent Dualism”.
