Near-death experiences as anomalies in the current biomedical science paradigm: A Kuhnian approch

Near-death experiences (NDE) are the experiences of those  who have come back to life on the verge of clinical death via the efforts of medical staff or other factors and, upon their return, have narrated astonishing reports of near-death conditions. These experiences have been reported worldwide and often with phenomenological features, which, according to statistical research, have certain components in common. Due to both the presence of a common core and the pervasiveness of the experiences, NDEs have grasped the attention of researchers as a challenging  explanatory topic in Biomedical Science . The scientists involved in this area have proposed different explanations . Despite the proposed hypotheses, the question remains whether the existing biomedical science paradigm offers a persuasive explanation of these experiences. Furthermore, if the current paradigm fails to explain these experiences , could we consider these experiences as an anomaly in this  paradigm? In this study, we evaluate the topic of NDEs as a sample case in the current paradigm structure based on Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. The results of this study suggest that NDEs have turned into an anomaly, and  the current paradigm is in the  state of “extraordinary science”. Despite the various hypotheses proposed for explaining these experiences during the past 48 years, they have yet to fully explain the  phenomena comprehensively . In addition, some scientific articulations and new hypotheses show that the current paradigm becomes more ambiguous in presenting the puzzle-solving exemplars to the scientists working on NDEs in particular and to the biomedical scientists  in general. Although the paradigm does exist, there is no unified understanding of its nature among scientists practitioners working in it.