The Biocentric Worldview

The Biocentric Worldview
Author: Ludwig Klages
Publisher: Arktos
Total Pages: 158
Release: 2013
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1907166610

Citations are included in the Editor's note, pages 24-25.

Biocentrism

Biocentrism
Author: Robert Lanza
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2011
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1458795179

Robert Lanza is one of the most respected scientists in the world a US News and World Report cover story called him a genius and a renegade thinker, even likening him to Einstein. Lanza has teamed with Bob Berman, the most widely read astronomer in the world, to produce Biocentrism, a revolutionary new view of the universe. Every now and then a simple yet radical idea shakes the very foundations of knowledge. The startling discovery that the world was not flat challenged and ultimately changed the way people perceived themselves and their relationship with the world. For most humans of the 15th century, the notion of Earth as ball of rock was nonsense. The whole of Western, natural philosophy is undergoing a sea change again, increasingly being forced upon us by the experimental findings of quantum theory, and at the same time, toward doubt and uncertainty in the physical explanations of the universes genesis and structure. Biocentrism completes this shift in worldview, turning the planet upside down again with the revolutionary view that life creates the universe instead of the other way around. In this paradigm, life is not an accidental byproduct of the laws of physics. Biocentrism takes the reader on a seemingly improbable but ultimately inescapable journey through a foreign universe our own from the viewpoints of an acclaimed biologist and a leading astronomer. Switching perspective from physics to biology unlocks the cages in which Western science has unwittingly managed to confine itself. Biocentrism will shatter the readers ideas of life--time and space, and even death. At the same time it will release us from the dull worldview of life being merely the activity of an admixture of carbon and a few other elements; it suggests the exhilarating possibility that life is fundamentally immortal. The 21st century is predicted to be the Century of Biology, a shift from the previous century dominated by physics. It seems fitting, then, to begin the century by turning the universe outside-in and unifying the foundations of science with a simple idea discovered by one of the leading life-scientists of our age. Biocentrism awakens in readers a new sense of possibility, and is full of so many shocking new perspectives that the reader will never see reality the same way again.

Beyond Biocentrism

Beyond Biocentrism
Author: Robert Lanza
Publisher: BenBella Books, Inc.
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2016-05-03
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1942952228

Biocentrism shocked the world with a radical rethinking of the nature of reality. But that was just the beginning. In Beyond Biocentrism, acclaimed biologist Robert Lanza, one of TIME Magazine's "100 Most Influential People in 2014," and leading astronomer Bob Berman, take the reader on an intellectual thrill-ride as they re-examine everything we thought we knew about life, death, the universe, and the nature of reality itself. The first step is acknowledging that our existing model of reality is looking increasingly creaky in the face of recent scientific discoveries. Science tells us with some precision that the universe is 26.8 percent dark matter, 68.3 percent dark energy, and only 4.9 percent ordinary matter, but must confess that it doesn't really know what dark matter is and knows even less about dark energy. Science is increasingly pointing toward an infinite universe but has no ability to explain what that really means. Concepts such as time, space, and even causality are increasingly being demonstrated as meaningless. All of science is based on information passing through our consciousness but science hasn't the foggiest idea what consciousness is, and it can't explain the linkage between subatomic states and observation by conscious observers. Science describes life as a random occurrence in a dead universe but has no real understanding of how life began or why the universe appears to be exquisitely designed for the emergence of life. The biocentrism theory isn't a rejection of science. Quite the opposite. Biocentrism challenges us to fully accept the implications of the latest scientific findings in fields ranging from plant biology and cosmology to quantum entanglement and consciousness. By listening to what the science is telling us, it becomes increasingly clear that life and consciousness are fundamental to any true understanding of the universe. This forces a fundamental rethinking of everything we thought we knew about life, death, and our place in the universe.

Cosmogonic Reflections: Selected Aphorisms from Ludwig Klages

Cosmogonic Reflections: Selected Aphorisms from Ludwig Klages
Author: Ludwig Klages
Publisher: Arktos
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2015-06-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1910524417

This book is a selection of aphorisms and reflections excerpted from the voluminous works of the German philosopher and psychologist, Ludwig Klages. He was a fierce critic of what he saw as the lack of quality in the modern world, which he held to be a product of modern ideas and organised Christianity in our era. For Klages, the world is divided between life-affirming beliefs that venerate nature and those anti-natural forces that promote materialism and rationalism. To overcome these anti-life forces, Klages wished to return European consciousness back to its pagan roots and renew the link between man and sacred nature. He opposed technocratic rationalism, illusions of progress, and democracy, which he believed to be antithetical to true culture. His aphorisms defend paganism and a healthy Eros for a renewed future. “A pagan metaphysical system would not be philosophy as one understands that word today, i.e., the hair-splitting rehashing of such life-alien concepts as would be appropriate to the lecture hall; nor would it be characterized by that sort of factitious profundity that seeks to conceal its utter inability to solve the riddles of thought behind a veil of second-rate poetic fables. Neither should a genuine pagan metaphysics resemble that which passes for science in the modern world… Before we can discover truths that go to the very roots, we must possess a greater fund of inwardness than can be discerned in those thinkers who, for at least the last five hundred years, have expended their energies exclusively within the realm of reason.”—p. 143

Ludwig Klages and the Philosophy of Life

Ludwig Klages and the Philosophy of Life
Author: Paul Bishop
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2017-11-20
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1315522489

This book provides a unique overview of and introduction to the work of the German psychologist and philosopher Ludwig Klages (1872-1956), an astonishing figure in the history of German ideas. Central to intellectual life in turn-of-the-century Munich, he went on to establish a reputation for himself as an original and provocative thinker. Nowadays he is often overlooked, partly because of the absence of an accessible and authoritative introduction to his thought; this volume offers just such a point of entry. With an emphasis on applicability and utility, Paul Bishop reinvigorates the discourse surrounding Klages, providing a neutral and compact account of his intellectual development and his impact on psychology and philosophy. Part 1 offers an overview of Klages’s life, visiting the major stations of his intellectual development. Part 2 examines in turn nine major conceptual ‘tools’ found in Klages’s extensive writings, aiming to clarify Klages’s terminology, to demystify his discourse, and to sift through Klages’s credentials as a psychological thinker. Part 3 consists of extracts from Klages’s writings, thematically oriented; these showcase the aphoristic and lyrical, as well as psychological and philosophical, qualities of Klages’s writing, including his interest in aesthetics. Taken together, all three parts constitute a vitalist ‘toolkit’ — to build a fuller, richer life. Drawing on previous studies of Klages that have only been available in German, Ludwig Klages and the Philosophy of Life provides a non-polemical account of Klages’s life and work, with explanations and commentaries to guide the reader through extracts from his writings. The book accessibly explains the most important ideas and concepts found in Klages’s work, including soul, spirit, character, expression, will, and consciousness, and it reveals Klages to be a serious figure whose thought remains relevant to many disciplines today. It will stimulate interest in his work and create a new readership for his remarkable worldview.

Respect for Nature

Respect for Nature
Author: Paul W. Taylor
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2011-04-11
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1400838533

What rational justification is there for conceiving of all living things as possessing inherent worth? In Respect for Nature, Paul Taylor draws on biology, moral philosophy, and environmental science to defend a biocentric environmental ethic in which all life has value. Without making claims for the moral rights of plants and animals, he offers a reasoned alternative to the prevailing anthropocentric view--that the natural environment and its wildlife are valued only as objects for human use or enjoyment. Respect for Nature provides both a full account of the biological conditions for life--human or otherwise--and a comprehensive view of the complex relationship between human beings and the whole of nature. This classic book remains a valuable resource for philosophers, biologists, and environmentalists alike--along with all those who care about the future of life on Earth. A new foreword by Dale Jamieson looks at how the original 1986 edition of Respect for Nature has shaped the study of environmental ethics, and shows why the work remains relevant to debates today.

On the Nature of Consciousness

On the Nature of Consciousness
Author: Ludwig Klages
Publisher:
Total Pages: 100
Release: 2021-05-12
Genre:
ISBN:

First published in 1921, On the Nature of Consciousness (Vom Wesen des Bewusstseins) is Ludwig Klages' attempt to deal with the science of consciousness, by which he means the doctrine of the nature and origin of consciousness. For Klages, the science of consciousness takes the place of what was conventionally called epistemology and opens up completely new perspectives for controversial epistemological questions. This is an English translation of Vom Wesen des Bewusstseins, published by Johann Ambrosius Barth, Leipzig, Germany, 1926.

Earth Alive

Earth Alive
Author: J. S. Rowe
Publisher:
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2006
Genre: Nature
ISBN:

"Earth Alive is a collection of thought-provoking essays, short pieces, and reviews that explore and uncover the intimate connections between humans and the Earth. Through a strong mix of proof and irony, respected ecologist Stan Rowe re-examines the concept of living with---not against--the Earth. In Earth Alive, Rowe prompts us to think in revolutionary terms about developing a new world-view, and living more responsibly on our increasingly damaged planet. This innovative collection gives hope for restoring diversity on Earth--which Rowe points to as the only true path to sustainability."--from pub. website.

Animals and African Ethics

Animals and African Ethics
Author: Kai Horsthemke
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2015-07-21
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1137504056

The claim is frequently made on behalf of African moral beliefs and practices that they do not objectify and exploit nature and natural existents like Western ethics does. This book investigates whether this is correct and what kind of status is reserved for other-than-human animals in African ethics.

The Science of Character

The Science of Character
Author: Ludwig Klages
Publisher: Arktos Media Limited
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2022-09-04
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9781914208959

In his masterful treatise The Science of Character, Ludwig Klages surpasses the traditional study of character by moving away from the assumption of rigid character traits and the old doctrine of the four temperaments. Instead, he describes the traits in their dynamic course. Klages distinguishes between the talents and the character in the narrower sense, and meticulously lays out the individual qualities and the structure of the character. The quantity aspects of the talents are to be determined by comparison between different persons. The driving forces, or interests, decide the general direction of our lives and are to be judged by comparison between the expressions of the different interests of a single individual. Klages is opposed to egalitarianism and continually emphasizes that we are born with different gifts and talents. With our nature being based on our interests, he describes the structure of the character in a phenomenological-psychological way, based on his own experience, through introspection and reflection, but also based on observations of expression, as well as literary and other cultural phenomena. He emphasizes the psychological meaning of words and the richness of psychological knowledge captured in language. Klages is able to analyze not just individuals, but entire races, epochs and even buildings. His work anticipates postmodernism.