Content area
Full text
ABSTRACT: In this article we contrast the approaches that transpersonal psychology and parapsychology take in studying phenomena of common interest. We note the effects of adopting different epistemological and methodological approaches upon how those phenomena are understood and represented. Taking the case of near-death experiences as exemplar, we consider how transpersonal psychology and parapsychology have separately determined what is important to discover and how they go about discovering it. Both disciplines can be criticised as having limitations and shortcomings, and it is not clear that they necessarily complement or compensate for each other. In particular, we would argue that, in their historical emphases on seeking out 'universal' features of, respectively, paranormal and spiritually-transformative experiences, both have neglected the role of sociocultural factors and participatory processes in shaping both the phenomena and our understanding of them. Contextual and participatory approaches have become increasingly prominent in recent years, especially within transpersonal psychology, and these could provide the foundation for greater future collaboration and convergence between transpersonal and parapsychological disciplines.
Keywords: parapsychology, near-death experience, positivist and constructivist approaches
Walsh and Vaughan's influential definition of transpersonal psychology describes it as "the area of psychology that focuses on transpersonal experiences and related phenomena. These phenomena include the causes, effects and correlates of transpersonal experiences, as well as disciplines and practices inspired by them" (1993, p. 53). They purposely offer a broad, inclusive definition that focuses on experiences in a manner that allows for multiple interpretations of them; thus they can incorporate different levels of explanation, from the biological to the metaphysical, and encourage different epistemological approaches, from the experimental to the introspective, the 'objective' to the 'subjective'.
This eclecticism is evident in the variety of other disciplines that can apply a transpersonal perspective to their subject matter. According to Ferrer (2002, preface) the term 'transpersonal' may have had its origins in psychology, but it has grown in scope to include transpersonal approaches to psychiatry, anthropology, sociology and ecology, as well as social work, art, literature, acting, law and business (Boucouvalas, 1999). Perhaps surprisingly, one area not included in these lists is parapsychology, which can be defined as "[t]he scientific study of experiences which, if they are as they seem to be, are in principle outside the realm of human...