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Culture, biology, and the near-death experience: A reappraisal

Kellehear, Allan (1993)

Published
Mar 1, 1993
Journal
Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease · Vol. 181 · No. 3
DOI
10.1097/00005053-199303000-00002

At a GlanceAI

The tunnel and the life review look culture-bound, which weakens purely biological explanations of them.

SummaryAI

Kellehear reviews cross-cultural NDE reports and argues that the tunnel sensation and the life review appear mainly in societies shaped by historic religions. If so, biological theories built to explain these two features may be premature, and social and historical explanations fit the available evidence better.

Method SnapshotAI

Narrative review of cross-cultural case material.

BackgroundAI

None.

An attempt to explain some elements of the phenomenology through culture. Answers a number of questions, but doesn't explain why people in other cultures describe similar experiences.

— ES