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 English Italiano     Presenters D - I Hartelius, Glenn

English Italiano Print this page Participatory Empiricism: Toward a Phenomenological-Empirical Science for Transpersonal Psychology

Glenn HarteliusA phenomenological-empirical approach to science would greatly expand the ability of transpersonal psychology to gain empirical data on its many and varied topics of study. Transpersonal psychology is one of a group of psychologies, including humanistic, person-centered, integral, holistic, somatic, and Jungian, that draw significantly on present-moment experience.

These might be called the "life psychologies," since they treat the mind as a living presence with which to engage. Such psychologies can be contrasted with approaches such as behaviorist, cognitive, neurological, and biochemical, which treat the mind as an object to be manipulated-one might call them "object psychologies." To date, the main way in which transpersonal psychology has been able to supplement rational-empirical data is through the use of qualitative research methods. While these are highly valuable, additional benefit might be gained from defining a more fundamentally fresh approach to inquiry. The rational-empirical method contains within it an unacknowledged variable-the "rational" state of mind.

By developing a simple yet novel somatic method of defining the rational state, it may be possible to also define, describe, teach, and use other, alternate states from which to conduct careful inquiry. This paper will describe a method for describing states in somatic terms, and for using such terms to propose a state for a phenomenological-empirical approach to scientific inquiry.

 

Glenn Hartelius, Ph.D., is a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, California, USA. He is co-editor of the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies and Secretary of the International Transpersonal Association. His specializations are participatory transpersonalism, consciousness studies, somatic psychology, and phenomenology.

 

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