Current mainstream scientific opinion holds that all aspects of human mind and consciousness are generated by physical processes occurring in the brain. This book presents empirical evidence that this reductive materialism is not only incomplete but false. Topics addressed include phenomena of extreme psychophysical influence, memory, psychological automatisms and secondary personality, near-death experiences and allied phenomena, genius-level creativity, and mystical states of consciousness both spontaneous and drug-induced. The authors show that these rogue phenomena are more readily accommodated by an alternative ‘transmission’ or ‘filter’ theory of mind/brain relations – a theory that ratifies the commonsense conception of human beings as causally effective conscious agents, and is also fully compatible with leading-edge physics and neuroscience. The book should command the attention of all open-minded persons concerned with the still-unsolved mysteries of the mind.
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Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Winter, 2007. 800 pages. ISBN 0-7425-4792-2
Interested readers, we invite you to peruse the annotated bibliography for Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century.
Special Note:
Edward F. Kelly Ph.D., is the 2020 recipient of the prestigious Myers Memorial Medal. The medal is awarded by the Society for Psychical Research on an occasional basis to those who have made significant contributions to the field.
Ed Kelly has been active in parapsychology for several decades and is being recognized for his sustained efforts to explore the ramifications of psi phenomena for the mind-brain relationship, and the challenge posed by anomalous phenomena for reductionist physicalism more broadly.