Argument for State-Specific Sciences

Although traditional scientific methods are poorly suited to the study of
consciousness, many beneficial tools that can be used to measure the physiological
correlation of altered states, such as the electroencephalograph,
have been developed as an outgrowth of the study of states of consciousness.
Psychologist Charles Tart suggested the creation of state-specific sciences.
In reaching this conclusion, he argues that any particular state of consciousness
(including ordinary waking) is a semiarbitrary construction�"a
specialized tool that is useful for some things but not for others and that
contains large numbers of structures shaped by a particular group’s value
judgments. Thus, science is observation and conceptualization carried out
within the highly selective framework provided by a culturally determined
ordinary state of consciousness. Tart suggests that, as altered states of consciousness
often represent radically different ways of organizing observations
and reworking conceptualizations of the universe (including oneself),
if the scientific method were applied to developing sciences within various
states of consciousness, there would be sciences based on radically different
perceptions, logics, and communications, and thus science as a whole would
gain new perspectives that would complement the existing one.
Regardless of whether this suggestion is taken seriously, it is clear that the
study of states of consciousness has achieved legitimacy in scientific psychology.
The investigation so far has revealed that human consciousness is much
more diverse and varied than many psychologists previously believed.

Sources for Further Study
Flannagan, Owen J. Dreaming Souls: Sleep, Dreams, and the Evolution of the
Mind. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. A professor of philosophy,
experimental psychology, and neurobiology proposes that dreams
are an unplanned side effect of the evolution of a human mind designed to “have experiences.” Reviews current research and theory on the nature
and functions of dreaming as well as presenting his own thesis.
Hilgard, Ernest Ropiequet. Divided Consciousness: Multiple Controls in Human
Thought and Action. Expanded ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1986. A
discussion of consciousness by one of the most respected experimental
psychologists. Included are discussions on the hidden observer phenomenon
in hypnosis and on other dissociation phenomena such as multiple
personality, amnesia, and fugue states.
Hobson, J. Allen. The Dream Drugstore: Chemically Altered States of Consciousness.
Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001. Discusses the natural and voluntarily
altered chemistry of the brain and its effects on human consciousness.
Hobson addresses the modern reliance on antidepressants such as Prozac
as well as the “recreational” drugs of underground culture and presents
the possible connections between dreaming states, drug-induced
states, and mental illnesses in a nonjudgmental fashion.
Ornstein, Robert Evan, ed. The Nature of Human Consciousness. San Francisco:
W. H. Freeman, 1973. This anthology contains essays by many of
the pioneers in the psychological study of altered states of consciousness,
including Carl Jung, Roberto Assagioli, Arthur Deikman, and many others.
Topics include meditative states, psychosynthesis, Sufism, and synchronicity.
__________. The Psychology of Consciousness. 2d rev. ed. New York: Penguin
Books, 1986. This is considered a classic text on altered states of consciousness.
It provides in-depth discussions of the psychology of meditation
and the relationship of altered states to hemispheric differences in
the brain.
Ward, Colleen A., ed. Altered States of Consciousness and Mental Health: A Crosscultural
Perspective. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 1989. A collection of papers
assessing the mental health value and use of altered states of consciousness
from a non-Western perspective.
Wolman, Benjamin B., and Montague Ullman, ed. Handbook of States of Consciousness.
New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1986. This is an excellent
sourcebook on psychological theory and research on altered states of
consciousness. Discusses, in addition to the topics covered in this article,
trance states, lucid dreams, ultradian rhythms, and many other subjects.
Oliver W. Hill, Jr.
See also: Consciousness; Dementia; Dreams; Thought: Study and Measurement.
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