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Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Philosophy of mind
This Handbook introduces neurosemiotics, a pluralistic framework to
reconsider semiosis as an emergent phenomenon at the interface of
biology and culture. Across individual and interpersonal settings,
meaning is influenced by external and internal processes bridging
phenomenological and biological dimensions. Yet, each of these
dyads has been segregated into discipline-specific topics, with
attempts to chart their intersections proving preliminary at best.
Bringing together perspectives from world-leading experts, this
volume seeks to overcome these disciplinary divides between the
social and the natural sciences at both the empirical and
theoretical levels. Its various chapters chart the foundations of
neurosemiotics; characterize linguistic and interpersonal dynamics
as shaped by neurocognitive, bodily, situational, and societal
factors; and examine other daily neurosemiotic occurrences driven
by faces, music, tools, and even visceral signals. This
comprehensive volume is a state-of the-art resource for students
and researchers interested in how humans and other animals construe
experience in such fields as cognitive neuroscience, biosemiotics,
philosophy of mind, neuropsychology, neurolinguistics, and
evolutionary biology.
Different from traditional research on the mind-body problem often
discussed from an epistemological viewpoint, which assumes that
mental processes are internal to the person, this book demonstrates
the crucial role of contextual relevance in the workings of the
mind and illustrates how mind emerges from the individual's
interactions with her physical, social, and cultural environments.
It also develops the interpersonal and social aspects of embodied
mind. The body that creates meaning is not only an emotional,
kinesthetic, and aesthetically experiencing body; the body that
creates meaning is a social body. It suggests that mind-body
relations are not only achieved through the interaction between our
own mind and body, but by other minds in our intersubjective
interactions. It is related to epistemology, metaphysics, ethics,
value theory, action theory, and the philosophies of mind, science,
logic, and technology. The readership may include graduate and
undergraduate students studying philosophy, law, political science,
sociology, psychology, etc., educators, researchers, scholars, and
anyone who shows an interest in philosophy.
- integrates relevant philosophy in a way that makes it
understandable and palatable to psychoanalytic readers - there
isn't much direct competition to this book; it's an original
contribution
Accessibly written and intends to demonstrate Bion's ideas through
'feeling' rather than logic by using poetry, literature, philosophy
and art. Examines topics including the "no-thing", the impact of
trauma on development, and the development of and controversy
surrounding Bion's concept of O. Examples and clinical case studies
used throughout.
What do we see? We are visually conscious of colors and shapes, but
are we also visually conscious of complex properties such as being
John Malkovich? In this book, Susanna Siegel develops a framework
for understanding the contents of visual experience, and argues
that these contents involve all sorts of complex properties. Siegel
starts by analyzing the notion of the contents of experience, and
by arguing that theorists of all stripes should accept that
experiences have contents. She then introduces a method for
discovering the contents of experience: the method of phenomenal
contrast. This method relies only minimally on introspection, and
allows rigorous support for claims about experience. She then
applies the method to make the case that we are conscious of many
kinds of properties, of all sorts of causal properties, and of many
other complex properties. She goes on to use the method to help
analyze difficult questions about our consciousness of objects and
their role in the contents of experience, and to reconceptualize
the distinction between perception and sensation. Siegel's results
are important for many areas of philosophy, including the
philosophy of mind, epistemology, and the philosophy of science.
They are also important for the psychology and cognitive
neuroscience of vision.
This book provides an integrative interdisciplinary view of how
intellectual and moral virtues are understood in two separate
practices, science and music. The authors engage with philosophical
and psychological accounts of virtue to understand scientists' and
musicians' understandings of intellectual and moral virtues. They
present empirical evidence substantiating the MacIntyrean claim
that traditions and practices are central to understanding the
virtues."
The Interactions Between Instinct and Intellect and its Impact on
Human Behavior
Length: 208 pages
Mark Abraham was displeased by the phenomenon of politicking,
although he studied it for a deeper and more accurate understanding
of this fatigued term, "politics," as a major aspect of human
affair. For reasons he could not identify as a student, he was
never satisfied with the prevailing definitions. Thus, he asked his
professors in both undergraduate and graduate school in the
political science department to share their understanding of the
term with him. Each of them seemed to have an understanding
uniquely different from all the rest. Then, he realized that this
was a vaguely understood phenomenon even by the professors in the
field and he relented his efforts and concluded that, "politics,"
was one of the most used but the least understood phenomena. As he
developed his own theories, he formulated that unlike the commonly
perceived concept, politics is not just a profession for the few in
each society, but it is a brand of behavior unique to humans that
starts in early childhood. Thus, he formulated, "to be instinctive
is to be selfish. To be selfish and intelligent is to be political.
Because instincts and intellect are permanent human fixtures,
politicking that results for their cofunction also becomes a
permanent human fixture." This perception justifies Aristotle's
claim that, "man is a political animal." The ultimate objective of
politicking is to impose and thus, he tries to redefine it. He
perceives politicking as a range of complex and manipulative deeds
afforded by people to impose their will and interest on others
against their will and interest. As such, it erodes innocence and
is one of the least desirable of all human attributes.
Yet the selfish nature of all instincts as the driving force
behind politics is the sole force that governs the world of
animals, thus politicking becomes the refined reflection of animals
in man. Where animals use fangs, claws, venom, speed and brute
force to subdue and devour their pray, humans apply politics that
includes the use of brute force. Misconceiving this term greatly
contributes to human conflicts at all levels, which is why most
people unconsciously dislike politicking and politics worldwide.
In this open access book, Carlos Montemayor illuminates the
development of artificial intelligence (AI) by examining our drive
to live a dignified life. He uses the notions of agency and
attention to consider our pursuit of what is important. His method
shows how the best way to guarantee value alignment between humans
and potentially intelligent machines is through attention routines
that satisfy similar needs. Setting out a theoretical framework for
AI Montemayor acknowledges its legal, moral, and political
implications and takes into account how epistemic agency differs
from moral agency. Through his insightful comparisons between human
and animal intelligence, Montemayor makes it clear why adopting a
need-based attention approach justifies a humanitarian framework.
This is an urgent, timely argument for developing AI technologies
based on international human rights agreements. The ebook editions
of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by
Carlos Montemayor and San Francisco State University.
"Here, at last, is a book about what happiness really means, and
why it often eludes us in our stressed-out, always-on lives."
-Arianna Huffington, Founder and CEO, Thrive A young philosopher
and Guinness World Record holder in pull-ups argues that the key to
happiness is not goal-driven striving but forging a life that
integrates self-possession, friendship, and engagement with nature.
What is the meaning of the good life? In this strikingly original
book, Adam Adatto Sandel draws on ancient and modern thinkers and
on two seemingly disparate pursuits of his own, philosophy and
fitness, to offer a surprising answer to this age-old human
question. Sandel argues that finding fulfillment is not about
attaining happiness, conceived as a state of mind, or even about
accomplishing one's greatest goals. Instead, true happiness comes
from immersing oneself in activity that is intrinsically rewarding.
The source of meaning, he suggests, derives from the integrity or
"wholeness" of self that we forge throughout the journey of life.
At the heart of Sandel's account of life as a journey are three
virtues that get displaced and distorted by our goal-oriented
striving: self-possession, friendship, and engagement with nature.
Sandel offers illuminating and counterintuitive accounts of these
virtues, revealing how they are essential to a happiness that
lasts. To illustrate the struggle of living up to these virtues,
Sandel looks to literature, film, and television, and also to his
own commitments and adventures. A focal point of his personal
narrative is a passion that, at first glance, is as narrow a
goal-oriented pursuit as one can imagine: training to set the
Guinness World Record for Most Pull-Ups in One Minute. Drawing on
his own experiences, Sandel makes philosophy accessible for readers
who, in their own infinitely various ways, struggle with the
tension between goal-oriented striving and the embrace of life as a
journey.
The Phenomenological Mind, Third Edition introduces fundamental
questions about the mind from the perspective of phenomenology. One
of the outstanding books in the field, now translated into eight
languages, this highly regarded exploration of phenomenology from a
topic-driven standpoint examines the following key questions and
issues: what is phenomenology? phenomenology and the cognitive
sciences consciousness and self-consciousness time and
consciousness intentionality and perception the embodied mind
action knowledge of other minds situated and extended minds
phenomenology and personal identity. This third edition has been
revised and updated throughout. The chapter on phenomenological
methodologies has been significantly expanded to cover qualitative
research, and there are new sections discussing important, recent
research on topics such as critical phenomenology, imagination,
social cognition, race and gender, collective intentionality, and
selfhood. Also included are helpful features, such as chapter
summaries, guides to further reading, and boxed explanations of
specialized topics, making The Phenomenological Mind, Third Edition
an ideal introduction to key concepts in phenomenology, cognitive
science, and philosophy of mind.
This book explores a new way of applying clinical ethics.
Empathy-based ethics is based on the patient-doctor relationship
and seeks to encourage a more humane form of medical practice. The
author argues that the current emphasis on the biomedical model of
medicine and a detached concern form of professionalism have
damaged the patient-doctor relationship. He investigates examples
of the dehumanization of patients and demonstrates a contrasting
view of humane care. The book presents empathy as a relational
construct - it provides an in-depth analysis of the process of
empathizing. It discusses an empathy-based ethics approach
underpinned by clinical examples of the practical application of
this new approach. It suggests how empathy-based ethics can be
embedded in clinical practice, medical education and research. The
book concludes by examining the challenges in implementing such an
approach and looks to a future which redresses the current
imbalance between biomedical and psychosocial approaches to
medicine.
This volume explores how the principles and values of pragmatic
philosophy serve as orienting perspectives for critical thinking in
contemporary psychotherapy and clinical practice. Drawing on the
contributions of William James and John Dewey, Neuroscience,
Psychotherapy, and Clinical Pragmatism introduces a model of
clinical pragmatism emphasizing the individuality of the person,
open-ended dialogue, experiential learning, and the practical
outcomes of ideas and methods. In a second part, chapters show how
recent developments in neuroscience and interpersonal neurobiology
deepen our understanding of change and growth in accord with the
principles of clinical pragmatism. Finally, the volume reviews
paradigms of psychotherapy across the psychodynamic, behavioral,
cognitive, and humanistic traditions. Case studies show how the
pluralist orientation of clinical pragmatism enlarges concepts of
therapeutic action. This text has been written for psychotherapists
as well as scholars, educators, and trainees in the fields of
psychiatry, clinical psychology, counseling, and social work.
This volume brings together a collection of recent essays on the
philosophy and theory of history. This is a field of lively
interdisciplinary discussion and research, to which historians,
philosophers and theorists of culture and literature have
contributed. The author is a philosopher by training, and his
inspiration comes primarily from the continental-phenomenological
tradition. Thus the influence of Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty
and Ricoeur can be discerned here. This background opens up a
unique perspective on the issues under discussion. Phenomenology
differs from other philosophical approaches, like metaphysics and
epistemology. Phenomenology asks, of anything that exists or may
exist: how is it given, how does it enter our experience, what is
our experience of it like? Very broadly we can say: phenomenology
is about experience. At first glance, this approach may seem
ill-suited to history. In our language, "history" usually means
either 1) what happened, i.e. past events, or 2) our knowledge of
what happened. We can't experience past events, and whatever
knowledge we have of them must come from other sources-memory,
testimony, physical traces. But the author maintains that we
actually do experience historical events, and these essays explain
how this is so. Sitting at the intersection of philosophy and
history, and divided into three parts-Historicity, Narrative, and
Time, Teleology and History, and Embodiment and Experience-this is
the ideal volume for those interested in experience from a
philosophical and historical perspective.
Modern study of the mind is marked by the hegemony of thought,
dominance of consciousness, and dictate of deliberation that result
in an overwhelming intellectualism. However, it ignores the
fundamental fact that by far most of our mental activity is not
manifested in explicit reasoning, and is mostly not conscious. What
then enables our successful participation in the natural, social,
and cultural surroundings without recourse to the 'higher'
cognitive processes? The background. It is the implicit and
efficacious guide in human coping with the world without the
monitoring reason. Yet how rules turn into routines? How conscious
efforts convert into unreflective skills? How does the body of
knowledge become the knowing body? How can most complex reactions
of the human mind turn into 'just doing'? The lesson from the
background teaches us that we are capacitated to do more than we
explicitly know; the sort of knowledge is skilled and automated
competence which is there before the conscious 'self' can report of
its emergence.
The "THINKING: Bioengineering of Science and Art" is to discuss
about philosophical aspects of thinking at the context of Science
and Art. External representations provide evidence that the
fundamental process of thinking exists in both animal subjects and
humans. However, the diversity and complexity of thinking in humans
is astonishing because humans have been permitted to integrate
scientific accounts into their accounts and create excellent
illustrations for the effects of this integration. The book
necessarily begins with the origins of human thinking and human
thinking into self and others, body, and life. Multiple factors
tend to modify the pattern of thinking. They all will come into
play by this book that brings thinking into different disciplines:
humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, formal sciences, and
applied sciences. The thinking demands full processing of
information, and therefore, the book considers the economy of
thinking as well. The book thoroughly intends to explore thinking
beyond the boundaries. Specifically, several chapters are devoted
to discipline this exploration either by artistic thinking alone or
by art and mathematics-aided engineering of complexities. In this
manner, the book models variations on thinking at the individual
and systems levels and accumulates a list of solutions, each good
for specific scenarios and maximal outcomes.
Brain, Decision Making, and Mental Health acknowledges that
thinking is not a constant phenomenon but varies considerably
across cultures. Critical thinking is particularly important in
bridging thinking divisions and its applicability across sciences,
particularly medical sciences. We see critical thinking as educable
and the arts as means to achieve this purpose. We address the
multidimensional relationship between thinking and health and
related mechanisms. Thinking mainly affects emotion regulation and
executive function; in other words, both mental and physical health
are related as a function of thoughts. Considering the
thinking-feeling-emotion regulation/executive function pathway, it
would be reasonable to propose thinking capacities-based
interventions to impact emotion regulation and executive function,
such as mindfulness and psychotherapy. We review decision-making
taking place in integrated and social contexts and discuss the
decision-making styles-decision outcomes relation. Finally,
artificial thinking and intelligence prepare us for decision-making
outside the human mind.
The Routledge Handbook of Collective Intentionality provides a
wide-ranging survey of topics in a rapidly expanding area of
interdisciplinary research. It consists of 36 chapters, written
exclusively for this volume, by an international team of experts.
What is distinctive about the study of collective intentionality
within the broader study of social interactions and structures is
its focus on the conceptual and psychological features of joint or
shared actions and attitudes, and their implications for the nature
of social groups and their functioning. This Handbook fully
captures this distinctive nature of the field and how it subsumes
the study of collective action, responsibility, reasoning, thought,
intention, emotion, phenomenology, decision-making, knowledge,
trust, rationality, cooperation, competition, and related issues,
as well as how these underpin social practices, organizations,
conventions, institutions and social ontology. Like the field, the
Handbook is interdisciplinary, drawing on research in philosophy,
cognitive science, linguistics, legal theory, anthropology,
sociology, computer science, psychology, economics, and political
science. Finally, the Handbook promotes several specific goals: (1)
it provides an important resource for students and researchers
interested in collective intentionality; (2) it integrates work
across disciplines and areas of research as it helps to define the
shape and scope of an emerging area of research; (3) it advances
the study of collective intentionality.
Looks at the history and origins of celibacy, discusses its role in
the priesthood, and considers the psychological aspects of
celibacy.
"Making the Human Mind" is an attack on the widespread assumption that the mind has parts and that it is the interaction between these parts which accounts for some of the most characteristic human behaviour, the sorts of irrational behaviour displayed in self-deception and weakness of will.;The implications of this attack are considerable: Professor Sharpe contests a realism about the mind, the belief that there is an inventory which an all-seeing deity could compile and which could contain answers to all the questions we could ask about people. With this goes a hermeneutic approach to the understanding of human behaviour: these forms of understanding are markedly different from that suggested by the scientific model and favoured by those who partition the mind.;Finally, the author undermines eliminative materialism and the idea that the way we talk about the mind constitutes a "folk psychology", arguing that what is distinctively human about the human mind has been created by self-consciousness and is self-created.
Kant is generally conceived to have offered little attention to the
fact that we experience the world in and through our bodies. This
book argues that this standard image of the great German
philosopher is radically wrong. Not only does Kant - throughout his
career and in works published before and after the Critique of pure
reason - reflect constantly upon the fact that human life is
embodied, but the Critique of pure reason itself may be read as a
critical reflection aimed at exploring some significant
philosophical implications of this fact. Bringing this aspect of
Kant's philosophy into focus is important, not only because it
sheds new light on our understanding of Kant's work, but also
because it is relevant to contemporary discussions in philosophy
about embodiment, learning and practice. By taking his philosophy
of embodiment into account, the author makes Kant stand out as a
true contemporary in new and unexpected ways.
How may we find happiness and peace? In this book, Rupert Spira
distils the message of all the great religious and spiritual
traditions into two essential truths: happiness is the very nature
of our self or being, and we share our being with everyone and
everything. Drawing on numerous examples from his own experience,
Spira demonstrates that to seek lasting happiness through objects,
situations and relationships is destined for failure and
disappointment, and skilfully guides the reader to recognise that
we are already the happiness we seek. This book is for anyone who
yearns for lasting happiness and is open to the possibility that it
is continuously available within ourselves, irrespective of our
circumstances. Could there be any greater discovery in life than to
know that we are already that for which we long? 'Rupert Spira's
articulate and very intimate style of teaching is truly
transformational. I've read and treasure all of his books.' -
Rhonda Byrne, author of The Secret and The Greatest Secret 'Let
Rupert Spira, one of the finest teachers of the present time,
gently guide you home to your innate peace and happiness.' - Peter
Russell, author of Letting Go of Nothing 'I've gained deeper
understanding listening to Rupert Spira than I have from any other
exponent of modern spirituality. Reality is sending us a message we
desperately need to hear, and at this moment no messenger surpasses
Spira and the transformative words in his essays.' - Deepak Chopra,
author of You Are the Universe, Spiritual Solutions and Super Brain
This volume, - is an introspective read on Krishnamurti as a
radical philosopher, - discusses the possibilities of change
through education, the school and the school culture as catalysts
for transformation - will be of great interest to students and
researcher of philosophy, education, South Asia studies, and the
social sciences.
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