Consciousness and Fundamental Reality

Consciousness and Fundamental Reality
Author: Philip Goff
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2017
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0190677015

The first half of this book argues that physicalism cannot account for consciousness, and hence cannot be true. The second half explores and defends Russellian monism, a radical alternative to both physicalism and dualism. The view that emerges combines panpsychism with the view that the universe as a whole is fundamental.

Galileo's Error

Galileo's Error
Author: Philip Goff
Publisher: Pantheon
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2019
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1524747963

From a leading philosopher of the mind comes this lucid, provocative argument that offers a radically new picture of human consciousness--panpsychism, an exciting alternative that could pave the way forward.ward.

Science, Consciousness and Ultimate Reality

Science, Consciousness and Ultimate Reality
Author: David Lorimer
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2016-11-30
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1845408799

This interdisciplinary volume arises out of a series of university events arranged by the Scientific and Medical Network between November 2001 and July 2003. The Science, Consciousness and Ultimate Reality project was set up with the support of the John Templeton Foundation in order to examine critical issues at the interface between science, religion and the relatively new field of ‘consciousness studies'. The results give a variety of fascinating perspectives on this emerging area. David Lorimer has brought together an impressive list of contributors representing the diverse fields of physics, neuroscience, psychology, theology and moral philosophy: Denis Alexander, Bernard Carr, Chris Clarke, Guy Claxton, Peter Fenwick, David Fontana, John Habgood, Mary Midgley, Ravi Ravindra, Alan Torrance and Keith Ward.

The Romance of Reality

The Romance of Reality
Author: Bobby Azarian
Publisher: BenBella Books
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2022-06-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1637740441

Why do we exist? For centuries, this question was the sole province of religion and philosophy. But now science is ready to take a seat at the table. According to the prevailing scientific paradigm, the universe tends toward randomness; it functions according to laws without purpose, and the emergence of life is an accident devoid of meaning. But this bleak interpretation of nature is currently being challenged by cutting-edge findings at the intersection of physics, biology, neuroscience, and information theory—generally referred to as “complexity science.” Thanks to a new understanding of evolution, as well as recent advances in our understanding of the phenomenon known as emergence, a new cosmic narrative is taking shape: Nature’s simplest “parts” come together to form ever-greater “wholes” in a process that has no end in sight. In The Romance of Reality, cognitive neuroscientist Bobby Azarian explains the science behind this new view of reality and explores what it means for all of us. In engaging, accessible prose, Azarian outlines the fundamental misunderstanding of thermodynamics at the heart of the old assumptions about the universe’s evolution, and shows us the evidence that suggests that the universe is a “self-organizing” system, one that is moving toward increasing complexity and awareness. Cosmologist and science communicator Carl Sagan once said of humanity that “we are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” The Romance of Reality shows that this poetic statement in fact rests on a scientific foundation and gives us a new way to know the cosmos, along with a riveting vision of life that imbues existence with meaning—nothing supernatural required.

Conscious

Conscious
Author: Annaka Harris
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 115
Release: 2019-06-04
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0062906739

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "If you’ve ever wondered how you have the capacity to wonder, some fascinating insights await you in these pages.” --Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals As concise and enlightening as Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, this mind-expanding dive into the mystery of consciousness is an illuminating meditation on the self, free will, and felt experience. What is consciousness? How does it arise? And why does it exist? We take our experience of being in the world for granted. But the very existence of consciousness raises profound questions: Why would any collection of matter in the universe be conscious? How are we able to think about this? And why should we? In this wonderfully accessible book, Annaka Harris guides us through the evolving definitions, philosophies, and scientific findings that probe our limited understanding of consciousness. Where does it reside, and what gives rise to it? Could it be an illusion, or a universal property of all matter? As we try to understand consciousness, we must grapple with how to define it and, in the age of artificial intelligence, who or what might possess it. Conscious offers lively and challenging arguments that alter our ideas about consciousness—allowing us to think freely about it for ourselves, if indeed we can.

The Idea of the World

The Idea of the World
Author: Bernardo Kastrup
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2019-03-29
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1785357409

A rigorous case for the primacy of mind in nature, from philosophy to neuroscience, psychology and physics. The Idea of the World offers a grounded alternative to the frenzy of unrestrained abstractions and unexamined assumptions in philosophy and science today. This book examines what can be learned about the nature of reality based on conceptual parsimony, straightforward logic and empirical evidence from fields as diverse as physics and neuroscience. It compiles an overarching case for idealism - the notion that reality is essentially mental - from ten original articles the author has previously published in leading academic journals. The case begins with an exposition of the logical fallacies and internal contradictions of the reigning physicalist ontology and its popular alternatives, such as bottom-up panpsychism. It then advances a compelling formulation of idealism that elegantly makes sense of - and reconciles - classical and quantum worlds. The main objections to idealism are systematically refuted and empirical evidence is reviewed that corroborates the formulation presented here. The book closes with an analysis of the hidden psychological motivations behind mainstream physicalism and the implications of idealism for the way we relate to the world.

How Consciousness Creates Reality

How Consciousness Creates Reality
Author: Claus Janew
Publisher: CreateSpace
Total Pages: 84
Release: 2009-08-18
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1448669545

This is the abridged version of the book of the same title, written out of the desire to examine the structure of our reality from a standpoint unbiased by established teachings, be they academic-scientific, popular-esoteric, or religious in nature. Claus Janew begins with seemingly simple interactions in our daily lives, examines how they originate on a deeper level, comes to understand the essentials of consciousness, and finally recognizes that we create our reality in its entirety. In the course of this quest, the reader will uncover little-heeded paths to accessing the subconscious, other individuals, and that which can be understood by the term "God". And the solution to the classical problem of free will constitutes the gist of the concepts thus revealed. You do not need to bring previous philosophical knowledge to the reading of this text, but simply an interest in fundamental interconnections, a certain openness and the willingness to think along. This is a treatise which explains the most fundamental results of the authors research and their respective central argument, and which can serve as a stimulus for a more extensive examination of reality. May it bring you thoughtful pleasure and subtle delight.

Margins of Reality

Margins of Reality
Author: Robert G. Jahn
Publisher: ICRL Press
Total Pages: 433
Release: 2009-04
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1936033003

WHAT HAS MODERN SCIENCE SWEPT UNDER THE RUG? This pioneering work, which sparked intense controversy when it was first published two decades ago, suggests that modern science, in the name of rigor and objectivity, has arbitrarily excluded the role of consciousness in the establishment of physical reality. Drawing on the results of their first decade of empirical experimentation and theoretical modeling in their Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) program, the authors reach provocative conclusions about the interaction of human consciousness with physical devices, information-gathering processes, and technological systems. The scientific, personal, and social implications of this revolutionary work are staggering. MARGINS OF REALITY is nothing less than a fundamental reevaluation of how the world really works.

Consciousness and the Limits of Objectivity

Consciousness and the Limits of Objectivity
Author: Robert J. Howell
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2013-06-13
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0199654662

Robert J. Howell offers a new account of the relationship between conscious experience and the physical world, based on a neo-Cartesian notion of the physical and careful consideration of three anti-materialist arguments. His theory of subjective physicalism reconciles the data of consciousness with the advantages of a monistic, physical ontology.

Consciousness and Fundamental Reality

Consciousness and Fundamental Reality
Author: Philip Goff
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2017-07-21
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0190677023

A core philosophical project is the attempt to uncover the fundamental nature of reality, the limited set of facts upon which all other facts depend. Perhaps the most popular theory of fundamental reality in contemporary analytic philosophy is physicalism, the view that the world is fundamentally physical in nature. The first half of this book argues that physicalist views cannot account for the evident reality of conscious experience, and hence that physicalism cannot be true. Unusually for an opponent of physicalism, Goff argues that there are big problems with the most well-known arguments against physicalismChalmers' zombie conceivability argument and Jackson's knowledge argumentand proposes significant modifications. The second half of the book explores and defends a recently rediscovered theory of fundamental realityor perhaps rather a grouping of such theoriesknown as 'Russellian monism.' Russellian monists draw inspiration from a couple of theses defended by Bertrand Russell in The Analysis of Matter in 1927. Russell argued that physics, for all its virtues, gives us a radically incomplete picture of the world. It tells us only about the extrinsic, mathematical features of material entities, and leaves us in the dark about their intrinsic nature, about how they are in and of themselves. Following Russell, Russellian monists suppose that it is this 'hidden' intrinsic nature of matter that explains human and animal consciousness. Some Russellian monists adopt panpsychism, the view that the intrinsic natures of basic material entities involve consciousness; others hold that basic material entities are proto-conscious rather than conscious. Throughout the second half of the book various forms of Russellian monism are surveyed, and the key challenges facing it are discussed. The penultimate chapter defends a cosmopsychist form of Russellian monism, according to which all facts are grounded in facts about the conscious universe.