“Henry Stapp’s Quantum Model of the Mind-Brain Connection in the Context of the Sursem Group”
The focus of my paper will be an alternative re-enchanted scientific world-view that address the problems of i) meaning within the system of knowledge, in the sense of Viktor Frankl’s “ultimate meaning,” (1969, 1975); or Paul Tillich’s “ultimate concern,” (1964, 1987) and ii) unity within the system of knowledge, transdisciplinarity, as a response to the split of rationality, expressed as a) the division of the three cultures: humanities, social sciences and natural sciences; b) the fact/value dichotomy; and c) the conflict between Science and Religion. I will tackle these two related problems by means of i) an empirical historical investigation, and ii) a philosophical analysis of a scientific model.
I will analyse a quantum model of the mind-brain connection developed by the physicist Henry Stapp. My analysis will be delineated upon the broader historical background of the Esalen Institute – where Stapp has been interacting with many scientists and scholars over the last fifty years. The Esalen Institute, a human potential centre, in Big Sur, California, has sponsored research for decades via the Center for Theory and Research (CTR). I will examine one of these CTR sponsored groups, the “Empirical Evidence for the Survival of Death” group, a transdisciplinarity group of scholars and scientists (also known as Sursem) that worked together from 1998 to 2011. Stapp was a pivotal member of the Sursem’s team.