Hurley's visions of the dead may lend us insight into this theme of mental illness/instability in LOST. Perhaps we can use this chart to organize who Hurley talks to, where he talks to them (island vs. off-island sightings - is there a difference?), what they say to him, and if there are any patterns or observations.

I created a document in Google Docs that everyone should be able to access through the link above. Feel free to add, modify, and adjust at will.

If we treat this list academically, can we find patterns of behavior in "bad parenting"? Is abandonment the great parenting sin in the Lost universe? (Anthony Cook and Locke, Ben denying his love for Alex, Claire abandoning Aaron, Charles abandoning Faraday, Chang abandoning Miles, Diane turning her back on Kate) If so, what does that say about Jin and Sun? Is there another pattern concerning parents who force children to follow in their footsteps/traditions? (Mr. Paik and Sun, Eloise and Faraday, Christian and Jack, Widmore and Penny, Jacob and his mother). Does this tie back to the idea of cycles.

This is a general resource that  may prove useful.  It's like wikipedia, but the focus is on pop culture.

Here's a short wikipedia-ed description of one philosophical approach that might be relevant to Lost.