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Author: David Gamez
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
ISBN: 1783743018
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 234
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Book Description
Consciousness is widely perceived as one of the most fundamental, interesting and difficult problems of our time. However, we still know next to nothing about the relationship between consciousness and the brain and we can only speculate about the consciousness of animals and machines. Human and Machine Consciousness presents a new foundation for the scientific study of consciousness. It sets out a bold interpretation of consciousness that neutralizes the philosophical problems and explains how we can make scientific predictions about the consciousness of animals, brain-damaged patients and machines. Gamez interprets the scientific study of consciousness as a search for mathematical theories that map between measurements of consciousness and measurements of the physical world. We can use artificial intelligence to discover these theories and they could make accurate predictions about the consciousness of humans, animals and artificial systems. Human and Machine Consciousness also provides original insights into unusual conscious experiences, such as hallucinations, religious experiences and out-of-body states, and demonstrates how ‘designer’ states of consciousness could be created in the future. Gamez explains difficult concepts in a clear way that closely engages with scientific research. His punchy, concise prose is packed with vivid examples, making it suitable for the educated general reader as well as philosophers and scientists. Problems are brought to life in colourful illustrations and a helpful summary is given at the end of each chapter. The endnotes provide detailed discussions of individual points and full references to the scientific and philosophical literature.
Author: David Gamez
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
ISBN: 1783743018
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 234
Get Book
Book Description
Consciousness is widely perceived as one of the most fundamental, interesting and difficult problems of our time. However, we still know next to nothing about the relationship between consciousness and the brain and we can only speculate about the consciousness of animals and machines. Human and Machine Consciousness presents a new foundation for the scientific study of consciousness. It sets out a bold interpretation of consciousness that neutralizes the philosophical problems and explains how we can make scientific predictions about the consciousness of animals, brain-damaged patients and machines. Gamez interprets the scientific study of consciousness as a search for mathematical theories that map between measurements of consciousness and measurements of the physical world. We can use artificial intelligence to discover these theories and they could make accurate predictions about the consciousness of humans, animals and artificial systems. Human and Machine Consciousness also provides original insights into unusual conscious experiences, such as hallucinations, religious experiences and out-of-body states, and demonstrates how ‘designer’ states of consciousness could be created in the future. Gamez explains difficult concepts in a clear way that closely engages with scientific research. His punchy, concise prose is packed with vivid examples, making it suitable for the educated general reader as well as philosophers and scientists. Problems are brought to life in colourful illustrations and a helpful summary is given at the end of each chapter. The endnotes provide detailed discussions of individual points and full references to the scientific and philosophical literature.
Author: Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, et al.
Publisher: Philaletheians UK
ISBN: 0955040043
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 42
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Book Description
We are dual, manifested, aspects of an ultimate state of Unconsciousness, the One and only Reality. The Secret Doctrine asserts that out of a Perfect, Unconditioned, Unmanifested Consciousness, myriads of short-lived, bundles of individualised consciousnesses keep emerging, like sparks of a fire. That is how Unknowable Causality evolves to omnipresent mind and life immanent in every atom, and keeps transferring informing principles from one planet to the other, from one eternity to another. Intelligent Law is an aspect of Cosmic Consciousness. It governs Universe, Man and All. Consciousness, Universe, and Karman are one and the same, inseparable and inter-dependent. The whole Universe is the sum total of multifarious states of Consciousness. The only Reality is Ultimate Unconsciousness within the bosom of Parabrahman. All else is maya-illusion. Cosmic Ideation and Cosmic Substance are inseparable, interdependent, and readily convertible into each other. The Fire of Unconsciousness unfolds from within without and differentiates to sparks of self-consciousness. Even our senses are progressive differentiations of That One Sense-Consciousness. Beware! Impulses of Psychic Force, act from without within. Noetic Force acts from within without. Spirit and Matter are illusionary aspects of the One Consciousness which underpins and sustains All. Spirit can only cognise Itself through the flesh or “matter.” Thus matter is an aggregate of objects of possible perception. Endless Worlds are set into motion by an unquenchable Desire for Self-Knowledge that burns silently in the bosom of Parabrahman. When “the last vibration of the Seventh Eternity thrills through Infinitude,” the Fire of Desire becomes Fohat, or Light of Logos. It differentiates primordial matter into atoms, seeds of manifold Life, ever-revealing latent, unmanifested, potentialities of Infinite Thought and Ideals to the perception of finite minds. Consciousness is septenary. It vibrates and illumines the seven brains of the heart as it does the seven divisions or rays around the pineal gland. For the heart is the abode of Spiritual Consciousness. The Higher Mind or Manas is Spiritual Self-Consciousness, itself; Divine Consciousness, when united with Buddhi. The Lower Mind with its seven gateways is the organ of animal or terrestrial consciousness. Every single cell in our body is gifted with a brain and a consciousness of its own. Thus Consciousness is the essence of our being, the mystery in us that calls itself “I,” a breath of Heaven. One day, when our true individuality is withdrawn in the Unconscious Immateriality of its Divine Counterpart, it mayregain the true happiness of Non-Being. But “the seed is not quickened, except it die.” Everything in the Universe, throughout its kingdoms, is conscious, i.e., endowed with a consciousness of its own kind; a kind we do not always understand. Every World emanates from a single Unevolved Cause. And, like all else, our World has a Soul. Though eternal and changeless in Its inner essence, the Soul of the World alters during Its outer manifestations. This has been the subject of centuries of scholastic disputations. Consciousness is the One and only Capacity of Perception, ever analysing and reflecting upon Itself. Humanity is a periodic manifestation of Cosmic Consciousness. Spirit, Soul, and Matter are Consciousness’ three aspects integrated by Consciousness Itself. Universal Consciousness is unlimited and beyond space and time. While it can only be expressed through matter, it is not of matter, It is our Sensing Principle. Other considerations of the intrinsic Intelligence of Consciousness include the Unity of Spirit and Trinity of Nature. Personal, individualised, consciousness, ego and egoism, mind and mentality, self and selfishness, I-ness and me-ness, character and charisma, persona and personality, individualism and capitalism, they are all one and the same: they are the cause of separateness and all suffering in the world! Consciousness can neither imagine its own cessation nor its own beginning. Though Its contents are of a pseudo-infinite duration, It is the dream that never dies. Every plane of consciousness creates a different level of illusion. Everything is maya-illusion. Can we ever account for the origin of consciousness? Life and death are illusions, time is illusion. The illusion of time is produced by the panoramic succession of our states of consciousness. Time does not exist even in sleep! All things are real but only relatively real. The Infinite can only see Itself through the eyes of the finite. When the Infinite cannot conceive Itself by Itself, How can the finite ever perceive the Infinite? Such feats are beyond the boundary of human capability. That’s why the Infinite is, and will remain forever, Unknown and Unknowable. Only by abandoning personal thoughts and pursuits, the lower mind can begin to ascend toward its higher counterpart. Such an uplifting of consciousness can only be attained by self-devised but unselfish efforts, checked by Karman. Finally, Madame Blavatsky affirms three requisites for those who are after self-knowledge.
Author: Daniel M. Wegner
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262290553
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 725
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Book Description
A novel contribution to the age-old debate about free will versus determinism. Do we consciously cause our actions, or do they happen to us? Philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, theologians, and lawyers have long debated the existence of free will versus determinism. In this book Daniel Wegner offers a novel understanding of the issue. Like actions, he argues, the feeling of conscious will is created by the mind and brain. Yet if psychological and neural mechanisms are responsible for all human behavior, how could we have conscious will? The feeling of conscious will, Wegner shows, helps us to appreciate and remember our authorship of the things our minds and bodies do. Yes, we feel that we consciously will our actions, Wegner says, but at the same time, our actions happen to us. Although conscious will is an illusion, it serves as a guide to understanding ourselves and to developing a sense of responsibility and morality. Approaching conscious will as a topic of psychological study, Wegner examines the issue from a variety of angles. He looks at illusions of the will—those cases where people feel that they are willing an act that they are not doing or, conversely, are not willing an act that they in fact are doing. He explores conscious will in hypnosis, Ouija board spelling, automatic writing, and facilitated communication, as well as in such phenomena as spirit possession, dissociative identity disorder, and trance channeling. The result is a book that sidesteps endless debates to focus, more fruitfully, on the impact on our lives of the illusion of conscious will.
Author: Thomas Natsoulas
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107022274
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 475
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Book Description
This book seeks to explicate six basic concepts of consciousness from a variety of psychological, philosophical, historical, and lexicographic perspectives.
Author: Martin H. Stein
Publisher: Jason Aronson
ISBN: 9780765701190
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 296
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Book Description
Presents a selection of the papers of a beloved teacher and mentor by several of his students and collaborators.
Author: Oliver Sacks
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0385352573
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256
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Book Description
From the best-selling author of Gratitude, On the Move, and Musicophilia, a collection of essays that displays Oliver Sacks's passionate engagement with the most compelling and seminal ideas of human endeavor: evolution, creativity, memory, time, consciousness, and experience. Oliver Sacks, a scientist and a storyteller, is beloved by readers for the extraordinary neurological case histories (Awakenings, An Anthropologist on Mars) in which he introduced and explored many now familiar disorders--autism, Tourette's syndrome, face blindness, savant syndrome. He was also a memoirist who wrote with honesty and humor about the remarkable and strange encounters and experiences that shaped him (Uncle Tungsten, On the Move, Gratitude). Sacks, an Oxford-educated polymath, had a deep familiarity not only with literature and medicine but with botany, animal anatomy, chemistry, the history of science, philosophy, and psychology. The River of Consciousness is one of two books Sacks was working on up to his death, and it reveals his ability to make unexpected connections, his sheer joy in knowledge, and his unceasing, timeless project to understand what makes us human.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 604
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Book Description
Issues for 1896-1900 contain papers of the Aristotelian Society.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Medicine
Languages : en
Pages : 784
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Book Description
Author: Sthaneshwar Timalsina
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135970912
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 244
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Book Description
This book focuses on the analysis of pure consciousness as found in Advaita Vedanta, one of the main schools of Indian philosophy. According to this tradition, reality is identified as Brahman, the world is considered illusory, and the individual self is identified with the absolute reality. Advaitins have various approaches to defend this argument, the central one being the doctrine of 'awareness only' (cinmatra). Following this stream of argument, what consciousness grasps immediately is consciousness itself, and the notions of subject and object arise due to ignorance. This doctrine categorically rejects the plurality of individual selves and the reality of objects of perception. Timalsina analyzes the nature of consciousness as understood in Advaita. He first explores the nature of reality and pure consciousness, and then moves on to analyze ignorance as propounded in Advaita. He then presents Advaita arguments against the definitions of 'object' of cognition found in various other schools of Indian philosophy. In this process, the positions of two rival philosophical schools of Advaita and Madhva Vedanta are explored in order to examine the exchange between these two schools. The final section of the book contrasts the Yogacara and Advaita understandings of consciousness. Written lucidly and clearly, this book reveals the depth and implications of Indian metaphysics and argument. It will be of interest to scholars of Indian philosophy and Religious Studies.
Author: Ned Block
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262522106
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 884
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Book Description
Intended for anyone attempting to find their way through the large and confusingly interwoven philosophical literature on consciousness, this reader brings together most of the principal texts in philosophy (and a small set of related key works in neuropsychology) on consciousness through 1997, and includes some forthcoming articles. Its extensive coverage strikes a balance between seminal works of the past few decades and the leading edge of philosophical research on consciousness.As no other anthology currently does, The Nature of Consciousness provides a substantial introduction to the field, and imposes structure on a vast and complicated literature, with sections covering stream of consciousness, theoretical issues, consciousness and representation, the function of consciousness, subjectivity and the explanatory gap, the knowledge argument, qualia, and monitoring conceptions of consciousness. Of the 49 contributions, 18 are either new or have been adapted from a previous publication.
