Philosophical Thought

The Challenge of Near-Death Experiences to Brain-Based Explanations of Moral Perception; Evaluating the Competing Hypotheses

Document Type : Original Research

Authors

E. Biokafi
S.A. Fazeli ΒΆ

Department of Ethics, Faculty of Theology, Qom University, Qom, Iran

https://doi.org/10.58209/jpt.6.1.1
Abstract
Over the last three decades, a large number of researchers in the field of ethics have examined the role of the brain in moral perception. Accordingly, hundreds of studies using various approaches have been conducted across regions worldwide. The results of these studies have shown the decisive role of different parts of the brain in the formation of moral perceptions. However, another branch of research that focuses on the study of near-death experiences provides numerous reports of moral perception in people whose brain activity has stopped. The results of these studies contradict those of moral neuroscience research. By reviewing these two groups of research, this article examines five explanatory hypotheses about the origin of moral perceptions and compares their explanatory power using the criterion of "best explanation". An examination of these hypotheses shows that those that provide a more complex, multidimensional model of moral perception have greater explanatory power than the evidence from the studies mentioned earlier.

Keywords

Near-Death Experiences
Moral Perception
Moral Neuroscience
Inference to the Best Explanation
Explanatory Virtues
Transcendental Dimension
Subjects
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Philosophical Thought
Volume 6, Issue 1
Winter 2026
Pages 1-18

  • Receive Date 06 September 2025
  • Accept Date 22 October 2025
  • Publish Date 22 December 2025