The challenge of near-death experiences (NDEs) to brain-based explanations of moral perception: Evaluating competing hypotheses based on the

Biokafi, Esmaeil; Fazeli, Syed Ahmad

The challenge of near-death experiences (NDEs) to brain-based explanations of moral perception: Evaluating competing hypotheses based on the "best explanation" criterion

Authors

Esmaeil Biokafi

Syed Ahmad Fazeli

Abstract

In the last three decades, a large number of researchers in the field of ethics have turned their attention to examining the role of the brain in moral perceptions, and accordingly, hundreds of studies with different approaches have been conducted in different regions of the world. 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 (NDEs) provides numerous reports of moral perception in people whose brain activity has stopped. The results of these studies show a clear contradiction with the results 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 the explanatory power of these hypotheses based on the criterion of "best explanation". An examination of these hypotheses shows that hypotheses that provide a more complex and multidimensional model of moral perception have greater explanatory power than the evidence of the aforementioned studies.

Keywords

Near-Death Experiences (NDEs)

Moral Perception

Moral Neuroscience

Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE)

explanatory virtues

Brain

Metaphysical dimension/ Transcendent dimension