Abstract

The narrow focus of the thesis is a close reading and evaluation of Hilgard's neodissociation theory of hypnosis, a theory inspired by certain experiments Hilgard conducted on hypnotic deafness and hypnotic analgesia. Hilgard claims that an entity he calls the "hidden observer" must be invoked in order to satisfactorily explain his experimental results. In his later works, the hidden observer figures in a grand theory in which classic hypnotic and dissociative phenomena are categorized and explained. What exactly Hilgard means by "hidden observer", however, is not easy to discern. In his 1973b essay, the hidden observer appears to amount to an additional center of consciousness alongside the primary consciousness of the hypnotized subject. However, Hilgard's later works include the caveat that the expression "hidden observer" should not be taken literally, as denoting a "homunculus" or "secondary personality" lurking in the head of the conscious person. Instead, "hidden observer" has status of a metaphor indicating an "information source". Exploration of Hilgard's theory, however, indicates that Hilgard's caveat is best taken not as a denial that the hidden observer is an additional center of consciousness, but rather as a denial that the hidden observer data imply polypsychism, the thesis that the normal, unhypnotized person, is the host of more than one center of consciousness. Using a careful exegesis of his texts, I explicate Hilgard's neodissociation theory and evaluate it in terms of philosophical coherence and explanatory adequacy. Discussion of various classic philosophical issues is brought to bear, e.g., consciousness, the person, action, and the problem of other minds. Chapters on hypnosis and dissociation, and related ideas and theories, show how Hilgard's theory is embedded in the wider historical, conceptual, terminological, and scientific domain of hypnosis and dissociation. This provides background for a fuller understanding of Hilgard's theory and shows how the philosophical and semantic issues bearing on Hilgard's theory are recurrent problematic issues in the wider domain. Some new terminology in relation to certain key domain concepts is suggested. In this way, the thesis pursues its broader goal of contributing towards the philosophy and semantics of dissociative phenomena