The Four Causes of Hypnosis

Aristotle's model of comprehension involves the description of a phenomenon and identification of its efficient causes (triggers), material cause (substrate), formal cause (models of structure), and final cause (function). This causal analysis provides a framework for understanding hypnosis and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of clinical and experimental hypnosis 2003-07, Vol.51 (3), p.195-231
Main Authors: Killeen, Peter R., Nash, Michael R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Consciousness - physiology
Dissociative Disorders
Humans
Hypnosis
Medical sciences
Psychological Theory
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Relaxation. Biofeedback. Hypnosis. Selfregulation. Meditation
Treatments
Citations: Items that cite this one
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Summary:Aristotle's model of comprehension involves the description of a phenomenon and identification of its efficient causes (triggers), material cause (substrate), formal cause (models of structure), and final cause (function). This causal analysis provides a framework for understanding hypnosis and the hypnotic state. States are constellations of parameters within specified ranges; they name, but do not explain, a phenomenon. Concerns about reification of states arematters of semantics and pragmatics, not ontology. Isolation of efficient causes (e.g., procedure, context, social variables) is but one component of understanding. Experimental, technical, andconceptual advanceshavecarried us into a century where the substrates and functions of hypnosismay be represented in synoptic theories that comprise all 4 causes of hypnosis.
ISSN:0020-7144
1744-5183
DOI:10.1076/iceh.51.3.195.15522