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Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Philosophy of mind
As the crowd stood and applauded for the neurophysiologist Du
Bois-Reymond's lecture on August 14, 1872, they did not know that
his lecture on the seven riddles of the universe would be long
remembered. Scientists at the time believed that science could
unlock all of the mysteries of the universe. However, the
scientific revolution of the early 20th century fueled by
relativity and quantum mechanics would upend the scientific world
confirming Du Bois-Reymond's insights. This book explores the
brilliance of Du Bois-Reymond's life and work and a vastly expanded
scientific understanding of these riddles through the modern
disciplines of physics, chemistry, and biology. Despite the
progress, underlying metaphysical notions still haunt the riddles.
Utilizing notions from Whitehead's Process Philosophy, the author
delves into the underlying structure of our universe and outlines
the nature of the deity that emerges. Part two of this book
examines the riddles consequent demands on theology and religion
through the lens of the extraordinary teacher, philosopher, and
theologian William DeWitt Hyde. The author clarifies notions about
miracles, immortality, and wisdom. This book takes the reader on a
vivid, imaginative journey towards unraveling the mysteries of our
existence, roles in society, and personal loyalties.
Thoroughly revised and updated, including three new chapters on
race, sex and human nature Second edition is split into thirteen
more manageable chapters (instead of eight long ones in the first
edition), matching course syllabi more effectively and making it
easier for students and teachers to use the book Covers the
essential topics, such as selection, adaptation, modularity, genes
and the environment, neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and
free will and determinism Additional textbook features include:
chapter summaries, annotated further reading and glossary.
Peter Sloterdijk is an internationally renowned philosopher and
thinker whose work is now seen as increasingly relevant to our
contemporary world situation and the multiple crises that punctuate
it, including those within ethical, political, economic,
technological, and ecological realms. This volume focuses upon one
of his central ideas, anthropotechnics. Broadly speaking,
anthropotechnics refers to the technological constitution of the
human as its fundamental mode of existence, which is characterized
by the ability to create dwelling places that 'immunize' human
beings from exterior threats while at the same time instituting
practices and exercises that call on humanity to transcend itself
'ascetically'. The essays included in this volume enter a critical
dialogue with Sloterdijk and his many philosophical interlocutors
in order to interrogate the many implications of anthropotechnics
in relation to some of the most pressing issues of our time,
including and especially the question of the future of humanity in
relation to globalism and modernization, climate change, the
post-secular, neoliberalism, and artificial intelligence. The
chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue
of Angelaki.
This is a timely and relevant volume, considering the many
manipulations and enhancements upon our ideas of reality in the
21st century The book explores how and why we deny, manipulate,
convert, or enhance reality The book argues that examining the many
ways in which we manipulate, deny, convert or enhance our realities
can give us an idea of how to deal with reality, which in turn can
provide us with a blueprint for how to live responsibly The book
brings together an international team of contributors to discuss
contemporary issues such as fake news, propaganda, virtual reality,
theatre as real life and reality TV This book draws on examples
from vast fields such as film studies, sociology, the social
sciences and medicine This volume will appeal to scholars and
upper-level students in the areas of communication and media
studies, comparative literature, film studies, economics, English,
international affairs, journalism, philosophy, psychology,
sociology, and theatre
This book interrogates the concept of the subject in the poem,
against the broader background of literary-theoretical issues
related to the lyric subject. Specifically, what kind of subject is
the subject in the poem? What relation does it have to other forms
of subjectivation that human beings experience in their life
practices? What is its singularity? "The Lyric Subject is a most
impressive achievement: a shrewd evaluation of a wide range of
writings (philosophical, linguistic, literary) bearing on the
question of the lyric subject. With myriad poetic examples, Varja
Balz alorsky Antic develops a rich, multileveled mapping of the
various forms of subjectivity and agency in the lyric." Jonathan
Culler, Professor Emeritus at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
This edited collection presents the latest cutting-edge research in
the philosophy and cognitive science of temporal illusions.
Illusion and error have long been important points of entry for
both philosophical and psychological approaches to understanding
the mind. Temporal illusions, specifically, concern a fundamental
feature of lived experience, temporality, and its relation to a
fundamental feature of the world, time, thus providing invaluable
insight into investigations of the mind and its relationship with
the world. The existence of temporal illusions crucially challenges
the naive assumption that we can simply infer the temporal nature
of the world from experience. This anthology gathers eighteen
original papers from current leading researchers in this subject,
covering four broad and interdisciplinary topics: illusions of
temporal passage, illusions and duration, illusions of temporal
order and simultaneity, and the relationship between temporal
illusions and the cognitive representation of time.
Explains and assesses philosophy of emotions via five, clear
questions and places the emotions in their wider philosophical
context, by looking at epistemology, the value of the emotions and
the emotions and science Lots of examples of particular emotions,
such as compassion, disgust, pride and anxiety Includes useful
additional features such as chapter summaries, annotated further
reading and a glossary
Explains and assesses philosophy of emotions via five, clear
questions and places the emotions in their wider philosophical
context, by looking at epistemology, the value of the emotions and
the emotions and science Lots of examples of particular emotions,
such as compassion, disgust, pride and anxiety Includes useful
additional features such as chapter summaries, annotated further
reading and a glossary
What if philosophy could solve the psychological puzzle of trauma?
Embodied Trauma and Healing argues just that, suggesting that one
might be needed in order to understand the other. The book
demonstrates how the body-mind problem that haunted Descartes was
addressed by phenomenologists, whilst also proposing that the human
experience is lived subjectively as embodied consciousness.
Throughout this book, the author suggests that the phenomenological
tools that are used to explore the body can also be an effective
way to discuss the physical and mental aspects of embodied trauma.
Drawing on the work of Paul Ricoeur, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and
Emmanuel Levinas, the book outlines a phenomenological approach to
the embodied and relational subject. It offers a reading of
embodied trauma that can connect it to wider conversations in
psychological underpinnings of trauma through Peter Levine's
somatic research and Bessel van der Kolk's embodied remembering.
Connecting to the analytic tradition, the book suggests that
phenomenology can unify both language-based and body-based
therapeutic practice. It also presents a compelling discussion that
ties the embodied experience of relation in trauma to the wider
causal factors of social suffering and relational rupture,
intergenerational trauma and the trauma of land, as informed by
phenomenology. Embodied Trauma and Healing is essential reading for
researchers within the fields of philosophy, psychology and medical
humanities for it actively engages with contemporary configurations
of trauma theory and recent research developments in healing and
mental disorder diagnosis.
Recently, psychologists and neurobiologists have conducted
experiments taken to show that human beings do not have free will.
Many, including a number of philosophers, assume that, even if
science has not decided the free will question yet, it is just a
matter of time. In The Experimental Approach to Free Will, Katherin
A. Rogers accomplishes several tasks. First, canvasing the
literature critical of these recent experiments (or of conclusions
drawn from them) and adding new criticisms of her own, she shows
why these experiments should not undermine belief in human freedom
- even robust, libertarian freedom. Indeed, many of the experiments
do not even connect with any philosophical understanding of free
will. Through this discussion, she generates a long list of
problems - ethical as well as practical - facing the attempt to
study free will experimentally. With these problems highlighted,
she shows that even in the distant future, supposing the brain
sciences to have advanced far beyond where they are today, it will
likely be impossible to settle the question of free will
experimentally. She concludes that, since philosophy has not, and
science cannot, settle the question of free will, it is more
reasonable to suppose that humans do indeed have freedom. Brings
together, and adds to, criticisms of recent experiments (or
conclusions drawn from them) which supposedly show that human
beings do not have free will Analyzes recent experiments supposedly
related to human freedom through the lens of a philosophically
informed portrait of a robust, libertarian free choice Develops a
long list of problems - both practical and ethical - facing the
experimental study of human freedom Proposes a thought experiment
set in a distant future of advanced brain science to show that it
is likely impossible for science ever to settle the question of
free will.
Where much contemporary philosophy seeks to stave off the 'threat'
of nihilism by safeguarding the experience of meaning -
characterized as the defining feature of human existence - from the
Enlightenment logic of disenchantment, this book attempts to push
nihilism to its ultimate conclusion by forging a link between
revisionary naturalism in Anglo-American philosophy and
anti-phenomenological realism in recent French philosophy. Contrary
to an emerging 'post-analytic' consensus which would bridge the
analytic-continental divide by uniting Heidegger and Wittgenstein
against the twin perils of scientism and scepticism, this book
short-circuits both traditions by plugging eliminative materialism
directly into speculative realism.
This book is a fascinating collection of various neuroscience terms
coined over the last centuries. Each of the 45 chapters in this
book dives deep into the etymologies, vernacular subtleties and
historical anecdotes relating to these terms. The book illustrates
the rich and diverse history of neuroscience, which has borrowed
and continues to borrow terms and concepts from across cultures,
literature and languages. The ever-increasing number of terms that
needed to be coined with the mushrooming of the field required
neuroscientists to show astonishing imagination and creativity,
leading them to draw inspiration from Graeco-Roman mythology
(Elpenor's syndrome), literature (Lasthenie de Ferjol's syndrome),
theatre (Ondine's curse), Japanese folklore (Kanashibari), and even
the Bible (Matthew effect). This book will of be immense interest
to scholars and researchers studying neuroscience, history of
science, anatomy, psychology and linguistics. It will also appeal
to any reader interested in learning more about neuroscience and
its history. All the chapters included in this book were originally
published in a column that appeared from 1997 to 2020 in the
Journal of the History of the Neurosciences.
Originally published in 1984, this work is organised in three
parts. Each part consists of several related chapters. Each chapter
explores the assumptions and implications of a closely related
group of concepts in depth. Part 1 explores what a structure is. It
considers such notions as content, context, constraint, unity,
integrity, and the hierarchical and nucleate forms of organization.
Part 2 critically explores the dynamic (energic) conceptualization
of psychological and social phenomena. Thus, this part considers
such notions as energy, entropy, activity, confirmation,
discrepancy, and resistance, as they apply to and affect the
stability, activity, and changes observed in psychological and
social structures. The relationship among the biological
(metabolic), psychological, and social levels of analysis are
explored from a rather simplified thermodynamic point of view. In
Part 3 brings all these earlier considerations to bear upon the
processes by which these structures grow and develop. It explores
the concept of development itself, and such related issues as the
levels-by-stages model of development, the distinction between
intrastructural and intergenerational development, the orthogenic
principles, the process of primordial differentiation and
integration, development as a dialectical process, and the
relationship between growth and development. The Epilogue indicates
briefly some of the implications of the present thesis for future
empirical and theoretical investigations.
This book draws the limits of our thoughts and consciousness
between the mind and mind-independent reality by using mathematical
logic with the support of neurology. Diagnosing the limits between
immanence and transcendence of the consciousness depends on dening
some transcendental a priori categories in between as some basic
axioms of the mind. Although this is a paradoxical attempt every
philosopher falls into, the author non-paradoxically identies these
non-intentional cognitive categories by using mathematical category
theory. e author denes the intentional categories of consciousness
by using mathematical set theory and obtains a selfrepresentational
higher-order theory of consciousness (SHOT). Finally, he combines
the intentional and non-intentional categories with an algebraic
topography and obtains a model of the mind.
First handbook on liberal naturalism Superb line up of
international contributors, many of whom are leading names in the
field Covers hot topics such as history of philosophical
naturalism, key figures from Aristotle to Quine and contemporary
issues such as ethical, metaphysical and epistemological naturalism
The book deals with Gerbert of Aurillac (Pope Sylvester II) and his
investigations in the field of theoretical (philosophy of numbers)
and practical (counting) arithmetic. The book represents the
comprehensive inquiry of both these aspects of arithmetic in his
thought. The analysed sources are Gerbert's so-called scientific
letters written to his friends, colleagues or pupils, and also
including some of his other texts. On this basis, attention is paid
to arithmetic as the mother of all sciences and as the path to
wisdom (e.g., the so-called Saltus Gerberti, relation between
arithmetic and other disciplines of the quadrivium, etc.) and also
to practical arithmetic (e.g., the introduction of Hindu-Arabic
numerals and the re-introduction of a new form of abacus to the
Latin Christian West).
This book promotes a Lacanian approach to silence, arguing that
Lacanian psychoanalysis is distinctive for putting a high value on
both silence and language. Unlike other disciplines and discourses
the authors do not treat silence as a mystical-impossible beyond,
at the cost of demoting the value of language and thought. Rather
than treating silence with awe and wonder, this book puts silence
to work, and it does so in order to deal with the inevitable
alienation that comes with becoming speaking-beings. This
illuminating book will be of great interest to scholars of Lacan
and the psychosocial, as well as more broadly to philosophers and
linguists alike.
Hellenistic philosophy concerns the thought of the Epicureans,
Stoics, and Skeptics, the most influential philosophical groups in
the era between the death of Alexander the Great (323 BCE) and the
defeat of the last Greek stronghold in the ancient world (31 BCE).
The Routledge Handbook of Hellenistic Philosophy provides
accessible yet rigorous introductions to the theories of knowledge,
ethics, and physics belonging to each of the three schools,
explores the fascinating ways in which interschool rivalries shaped
the philosophies of the era, and offers unique insight into the
relevance of Hellenistic views to issues today, such as
environmental ethics, consumerism, and bioethics. Eleven countries
are represented among the Handbook's 35 authors, whose chapters
were written specifically for this volume and are organized
thematically into six sections: The people, history, and methods of
Epicureanism, Stoicism, and Skepticism. Earlier philosophical
influences on Hellenistic thought, such as Aristotle, Socrates, and
Presocratics. The soul, perception, and knowledge. God, fate, and
the primary principles of nature and the universe. Ethics,
political theory, society, and community. Hellenistic philosophy's
relevance to contemporary life. Spanning from the ancient past to
the present, this Handbook aims to show that Hellenistic philosophy
has much to offer all thinking people of the twenty-first century.
This handbook is a thorough and state of the art overview of a
central and fast-growing topic in philosophy including up-to-date
topics throughout making it the ideal reference source for both
students and scholars. This is the only handbook to pull together a
thoroughly comprehensive overview of the topic of philosophy of
agency. This handbook will help the field of study organise itself:
it will be a rallying point for any student and researcher
interested in the subject. All chapters are specially commissioned,
written by an international team of renowned contributors and not
previously published.
This book offers a holistic approach to the Internet of Things
(IoT) model, covering both the technologies and their applications,
focusing on uniquely identifiable objects and their virtual
representations in an Internet-like structure. The authors add to
the rapid growth in research on IoT communications and networks,
confirming the scalability and broad reach of the core concepts.
The book is filled with examples of innovative applications and
real-world case studies. The authors also address the business,
social, and legal aspects of the Internet of Things and explore the
critical topics of security and privacy and their challenges for
both individuals and organizations. The contributions are from
international experts in academia, industry, and research.
This text for undergraduate courses in critical thinking across
disciplines uses the intriguing and appealing exploration of
pseudoscience to apply these principles and skills. Providing an
accessible foundation of what critical thinking is, why it's
important, and how to apply these skills, the book explores the
psychological and social reasons of why human beings tend to find
credence in extraordinary claims. The book then shows how critical
thinking skills are used to evaluate specific pseudoscientific
arenas by applying scientific methods from various disciplines.
From alien abductions, ghosts, and psychic phenomena to historical
revisionism and unsupported medical and mental health treatments,
this intriguing book uses examples form a wide range of
pseudoscience fields and brings evidence from diverse fields as
psychology, biology, and physics to critically examine these
claims. Authored by a psychologist and a philosopher who have
extensive experience teaching and writing on critical thinking and
skeptical inquiry, this work is a lively text for courses in
critical thinking and the phenomenon of pseudoscience across
multiple disciplines.
Aimed at philsophy graduates this book investigates mental content
in a systematic way and advances a number of claims about how
mental content states are related to the body and the world.
Internalism is the thesis that they are; externalism is the theory
that they are not. The critical disagreement between these two
theses concerns their differing conceptions of the relation between
the mind and the world. Is the mind fundamentally autonomous with
respect to the world, or does the world enter into the very nature
of mind? This study offers an original account of the dilemma and
proposes significant advances in the disputes about mind and brain,
personality, externalism and internalism, and teleological
explanations.
From Descartes and Cartesian mind-body dualism in the 17th century
though to 21st-century concerns about artificial intelligence
programming, The Bloomsbury Companion to the Philosophy of
Consciousness presents a compelling history and up-to-date overview
of this burgeoning subject area. Acknowledging that many of the
original concepts of consciousness studies are found in writings of
past thinkers, it begins with introductory overviews to the thought
of Descartes through to Kant, covering Brentano's restoration of
empiricism to philosophical psychology and the major figures of the
late 19th and early 20th centuries: Russell, Wittgenstein, Ryle and
James. These opening chapters on the forces in the history of
consciousness lay the groundwork needed to understand how
influential contemporary thinkers in the philosophy of mind
interpret the concept of consciousness. Featuring leading figures
in the field, Part II discusses current issues in a range of topics
progressing from the so-called hard problem of understanding the
nature of consciousness, to the methodology of invoking the
possibility of philosophical zombies and the prospects of
reductivism in philosophy of mind. Part III is dedicated to new
research directions in the philosophy of consciousness, including
chapters on experiment objections to functionalism and the scope
and limits of artificial intelligence. Equipped with practical
research resources including an annotated bibliography, a research
guide and a glossary, The Bloomsbury Companion to the Philosophy of
Consciousness is an authoritative guide for studying the past,
present and future of consciousness.
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