Exploring the Activity of the Dying Human Brain. EEG, a new Experimental Systems, and the Search for Disconnected Consciousness

Near-death experiences (NDEs), reported by individuals who nearly died but survived, are vivid conscious experiences occurring in near-death states, such as cardiac arrest, when the brain is expected to cease functioning. This paper examines recent developments in neuroimaging research aimed at characterising neural activity in the dying human brain to identify neural correlates of consciousness and NDEs. By combining historical epistemology and media studies, I situate this research within its historical context that I trace to the mid-20th-century technological changes in identifying NDEs and determining death. I then analyse several pioneering studies that utilised clinical EEG recordings from deceased patients to investigate if neural activity in the dying human brain indicates conscious processing. Drawing on Hans- Jörg Rheinberger, I argue that these studies have established a new experimental system capable of formulating new questions and generating novel empirical findings about its object of inquiry. Finally, using Ludwig Jäger’s concept of transcriptivity, I discuss why the complex patterns of synchronised brain activity in dying individuals identified by these studies elude clear interpretation and stabilisation as neural markers of disconnected consciousnesses and NDEs. Apart from tracing how this emerging neuroimaging research introduces epistemic shifts in the medical investigation of neural underpinnings of NDEs, this paper also contrib- utes to broader discussions in the philosophy of science about the processes of knowledge production within exploratory experimental research. It does so by drawing attention to how such processes are configured in an emerging experimental system that is not yet capable of articulating its object of inquiry and by discussing why such a system can, despite its limitations, be regarded as epistemically productive.