Does the Concept of “Altered States of Consciousness” Rest on a Mistake?
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies January 1, 2007 Adam J. Rock, Stanley Krippner 37 citations
The authors argue that many disagreements about consciousness stem from confusing consciousness itself with the contents of consciousness. They build on Block's distinction among phenomenal, access, self, and monitoring consciousness, noting that all share an implicit separation between consciousness and its content. The term "altered state of consciousness" commits a fallacy by treating changes in the content of experience as changes in consciousness itself. To avoid this confusion, the authors propose replacing "altered state of consciousness" with "altered pattern of phenomenal properties," an extension of the concept of a phenomenal field. They discuss implications of this fallacy for theory and research.