Anomalous Phenomena and Consciousness: A Diagnostic Stress Test of Explanatory Frameworks

Abstract: A diagnostic stress test of explanatory frameworks against ten contested phenomena — from psychedelics and terminal lucidity to psi and mediumship — organized by evidential maturity. The central question: how do physicalism and idealism respond when confronted with phenomena that resist easy integration? The central finding: physicalism's deepest problem is not predictive failure but that dismissive labeling ("hallucination," "coincidence," "noise") blocks the investigation that would test its predictions. This essay does not argue that idealism is proven by these phenomena; it argues that physicalism's apparent explanatory coverage often conceals refusal to explain. Part of the Return to Consciousness research program — 22 philosophical essays exploring consciousness-first metaphysics. Full project: https://brunoton.github.io/return-to-consciousness/