Toward A New Eternalist Paradigm for Afterlife Studies: The Case of the Near-Death Experiences Argument. Issue 7 (3rd October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Testoni, Ines; Facco, Enrico; Perelda, Federico
• Is Part Of: World futures. Volume 73:Issue 7(2017)
• Page Start: 442
• Page End: 456
• Publication Date: 2017-10-03
• Subjects: Death studies -- eternalist paradigm -- Near Death Experience; Philosophy -- Periodicals; Forecasting -- Periodicals; 303
• DOI: 10.1080/02604027.2017.1357935
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0260-4027

Abstract

Abstract : In contemporary Western culture, death has been widely censured because of its conceptual implications; it lies at the boundaries between reductionism and metaphysics. There is not yet an efficacious epistemology able to solve this contraposition and its consequent collision with science and tradition. This article analyzes Near Death Experiences (NDEs) as a prototypical argument in which the two perspectives conflict. Specifically, it analyzes the epistemological antinomies of the ontological representations of death, inhering in passage versus absolute annihilation. Indeed, the NDEs theme permits the examination of the logical contradiction between monistic reductionism and its ontological counterpart to improve the discovery of a new paradigm that integrates the ecological with eternalist views.