Near death experiences as transformative experiences

The "Near death experiences as transformative experiences" student conference, organized by the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Bucharest (through its Department for Theoretical Philosophy) in partnership with students from the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Science, department of Cognitive Science, BA program in Cognitive Science, aims to bring together students and researchers in philosophy of mind, epistemology, cognitive science, in order to explore whether and how near death experiences could be transformative experiences.

The conference will take place on 17 May 2025, between 9 AM -  8 PM, local time for Bucharest, Romania. Regular presentations will be 20 minutes long, followed by 10 minutes long Q&A.

It will have a mixed format, in that speakers may choose whether they present online only or face to face at the event's location (if so, their session will enjoy a live audience, but it will also be streamed to remote participants).

Panels

Panels include, but are not limited to the following questions:

• What are the epistemological implications of near-death experiences?

• How can such experiences be epistemically transformative?

• What is the epistemic status of NDEs-induced metaphysical beliefs? Can NDE’s change metaphysical beliefs?

• Does culture influence near death experiences? Does it bear on their potential of being  transformative experiences?

• How can technology, such as VR, can be used to learn more about the transformative potential of near death experiences? Can virtual mortality be personally transformative?