Phenomenology and Altered States of Consciousness: A New Framework for Analysis?

Szabo, Attila and Horvath, Lajos and Szummer, Csaba (2014) Phenomenology and Altered States of Consciousness: A New Framework for Analysis? Psychologia Hungarica Caroliensis, 2 (2). pp. 7-29. ISSN 2064-2504

Preview

Text EPA02497_PsychologiaHungaricaCaroliensis_2014_02_007-029.pdf Download (226kB) | Preview

Abstract

In this paper, we compare two main paradigms of the examination of altered states of consciousness, and we propose a new horizon of interpretation. On the one hand, we review the complicated matters of psychedelics in the context of psychology (and especially in that of transpersonal psychology); on the other hand we use some of the basic concepts of the phenomenological tradition – focusing on Merleau-Ponty’s and Husserl’s phenomenology – to differentiate between the features of perception, hallucination, and vision. We propose the idea that the actual research regarding the phenomenon of psychointegration can be extended with the heuristic values of basic phenomenological concepts (e.g. intentionality, lived body, imagination). In conclusion, our main purpose is to show that the phenomenology of the lived body can be a powerful explanatory tool to describe and specify irrational and chaotic experiences induced by psychoactive substances. The experiential material of the paper is based on Benny Shanon’s phenomenological accounts.

Actions (login required)

Edit Item