Many kinds of body/mind practices are capable of producing remarkable behaviors and altered body states. A typology of such behaviors and states, defined as observable and intentional "extreme" alterations to the body, is presented. Epistemological and methodological issues are discussed: limitations of observational data, and role of meaning, intentionality, and consciousness. Rapprochement between Western medicine and Indo-Tibetan medicine requires rethinking biomedicine's radical grounding in physicality and reliance on "evidence-based medicine," and guarding against an ethnocentric Western intellectual hegemony motivating medical science and clinical practice to colonize and subvert non-Western traditions like Indo-Tibetan Buddhist medicine.
The cross-cultural evidence on "extreme behaviors": what can it tell us?
Categories:
Language:
English
Short Title:
The cross-cultural evidence on "extreme behaviors"
Abstract:
Item Type:
Journal Article
Publication Title:
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
Journal Abbreviation:
Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci.
Publication Date:
2009-08
Publication Year:
2009
Pages:
270-277
Volume:
1172
ISSN:
1749-6632
DOI:
10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04536.x
Library Catalog:
PubMed
Extra:
PMID: 19735251
Jean E. Jackson. 2009-08. "The cross-cultural evidence on "extreme behaviors": what can it tell us?." Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1172: 270-277. 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04536.x.
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| issn = 1749-6632
| volume = 1172
| pages = 270-277
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| first = Jean E.
| coauthors =
| title = The cross-cultural evidence on "extreme behaviors": what can it tell us?
| journal = Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
| date = 2009-08
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| pmc =
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