Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century
January 1, 2020 Edward F. Kelly, Emily Williams Kelly, Adam Crabtree et al. 145 citations
The author argues that mainstream cognitive science and neuroscience fail to account for the full range of human mental phenomena, particularly those involving agency, selfhood, and subjective experience. Drawing on examples from psychical research, automatism, and mysticism, the text contends that the mind cannot be reduced to brain processes and that a broader, more inclusive framework is needed to understand consciousness. The review critically examines the assumptions of physicalism and reductionism, suggesting that empirical evidence from anomalous experiences supports a non-reductive view of mind.