Imaginative resistance refers to a perceived inability or unwillingness to enter into fictional worlds that portray deviant moralities (Gendler, 2000): we can all easily imagine that dragons exist, but many people feel incapable of imagining fictional worlds in which morality works differently. Although this phenomenon has received much attention from philosophers, no one has attempted to operationalize the construct in a self-report scale. In Study 1, we developed the Imaginative Resistance Scale (IRS), investigated its relationship to theoretically related constructs, and (...) confirmed its structure and reliability (rα = 0.92) in a large sample. In Study 2, we asked participants to rate scenarios expected to provoke imaginative resistance and predicted these ratings from the IRS and its validity measures. IRS scores accounted for variability in ease of imagining these scenarios over and above gender, political orientation, and three related measures. The results are discussed in terms of theories of imaginative resistance and directions for future research. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper was to test whether imaginative resistance – a term used in the philosophical literature to describe the reluctance to imagine counter-moral worlds – is experienced by peo...

Heuristic Phenomenology lends itself well to a relatively naïve exploration of meditative experiences. I began with an interest in knowing more about the nature of the bodily sensations that I experienced during meditation. I aimed to capture lived experiences as they emerged into consciousness, so I bracketed out my expectations, as much as possible, and meditated. I noticed that I could not tape descriptions of my experiences while in a deep meditative state because when in this state, I was not (...) aware of the material world in which my body and the tape recorder existed. I had to be satisfied with describing meditative experiences as I emerged out of them, and regained connection with my body. Meditative sounds, vibrations and light, seemed to be perceived through my bodily senses but I knew they were not of a physical origin. As I focused my attention on these sensations, they increased in intensity. I entered a spiritual place where time, space and materiality were irrelevant. My experience has its own validity, ensured through the application of the phenomenological epoche, granting the ability to be open to whatever occurs to consciousness. I began this research with the assumption that meditation occurs when I apply a particular technique, when I concentrate on my breathing and not on my thoughts. I concluded, with an understanding that meditative and spiritual experiences occurred both in and out of structured meditation processes. Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology , Volume 1, Edition 2 September 2001. (shrink)