On the Possibilities of Applying the Concept of Peak Experiences in the Psychology of Thinking

The subject of the article is the heuristic potential of the concept of peak experiences developed by A. Maslow. On the initiative of V.I. Kabrin, this concept returns to the center of research and applied interests of modern anthropologically oriented psychology, striving to overcome the epistemological stencils that limit the construction of a holistic view of man and his diverse phenomenological experience. Controversial questions are raised regarding the cumulative potential of peak experiences and the criteria for assessing their constructiveness. The possibility of applying the concept of peak experiences in describing human mental activity that goes beyond rationally organized discursive practices, activity that has a holistic nature and existential tonality is shown. Peak experiences in the context of thinking are considered by the author as phenomenological companions and moments of culmination of cognitive experience of an esthetic-intuitive nature, markers of transcendence beyond the boundaries of the known.