Mind, Value, and Reality

Mind, Value, and Reality
Author: John Henry McDowell
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 414
Release: 1998
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780674007130

This book collects some of McDowell’s most influential papers of the last two decades. The essays deal with themes such as the interpretation of Aristotle’s and Plato’s ethical writings, questions in moral philosophy that arise out of the Greek tradition, Wittengensteinian ideas about reason in action, and issues central to philosophy of mind.

The Brain and the Meaning of Life

The Brain and the Meaning of Life
Author: Paul Thagard
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2010-02-14
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0691142726

Defending the superiority of evidence-based reasoning over religious faith and philosophical thought experiments, Thagard argues that minds are brains and that reality is what science can discover. Brains come to know reality through a combination of perception and reasoning. Just as important, our brains evaluate aspects of reality through emotions that can produce both good and bad decisions. Our cognitive and emotional abilities allow us to understand reality, decide effectively, act morally, and pursue the vital needs of love, work, and play. Wisdom consists of knowing what matters, why it matters, and how to achieve it."--Jacket.

Mind And Reality: The Space-time Window

Mind And Reality: The Space-time Window
Author: Wolfram Schommers
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2014-09-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9814556793

The relationship between mind and reality is usually perceived as an event that takes place in reality and producing simultaneously an internal image in the mind. So it takes place twice, so to speak, and there is a one-to-one correspondence between the two events. Within this conception, matter is embedded in space and time, and can be designated as “container-principle”. This monograph emphasizes that the well-known philosopher Immanuel Kant denied this principle and he stated that reality is principally not recognizable to a human being, and modern biological evolution seems to lead exactly to Kant's point of view. Within the theory of evolution, man's image about reality in mind does not have to be complete and true in the sense of a precise reproduction, and it is relatively easy to recognize that even space and time should not be elements of reality outside. Within this conception, only a certain part of reality, which the human being needs for mastering life, is projected onto space and time, and we come to the so-called “projection principle”. Then, spacetime defines the window to reality, leading to a number of exciting and essential questions, some of which are discussed in this monograph.As is known, current physics is mainly based on the container-principle. But this monograph proposes that the projection principle is obviously more suitable and could help to solve open-ended questions as, for example, in connection with the nature of time, the particle-wave duality, the cosmological constant, etc. Regarding the statistical behavior of matter, Einstein's statement “God does not play dice” has to be seen in a new light, but also Feynman's general viewpoint on quantum theory that it cannot be understood by man. However, conventional quantum theory is obviously not a consistent framework as per the projection principle. The term “world equation” is critically probed in this monograph.

Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy

Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy
Author: David J. Chalmers
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 544
Release: 2022-01-25
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0393635813

A leading philosopher takes a mind-bending journey through virtual worlds, illuminating the nature of reality and our place within it. Virtual reality is genuine reality; that’s the central thesis of Reality+. In a highly original work of “technophilosophy,” David J. Chalmers gives a compelling analysis of our technological future. He argues that virtual worlds are not second-class worlds, and that we can live a meaningful life in virtual reality. We may even be in a virtual world already. Along the way, Chalmers conducts a grand tour of big ideas in philosophy and science. He uses virtual reality technology to offer a new perspective on long-established philosophical questions. How do we know that there’s an external world? Is there a god? What is the nature of reality? What’s the relation between mind and body? How can we lead a good life? All of these questions are illuminated or transformed by Chalmers’ mind-bending analysis. Studded with illustrations that bring philosophical issues to life, Reality+ is a major statement that will shape discussion of philosophy, science, and technology for years to come.

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.

Meaning and Mind

Meaning and Mind
Author: Anita Avramides
Publisher: Bradford Books
Total Pages: 216
Release: 1989-03-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780262511773

A description of Grice's analysis of meaning and two interpretations, one reductive and one nonreductive.

Entangled Minds

Entangled Minds
Author: Dean Radin
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 371
Release: 2009-11-24
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1439187932

Is everything connected? Can we sense what's happening to loved ones thousands of miles away? Why are we sometimes certain of a caller's identity the instant the phone rings? Do intuitive hunches contain information about future events? Is it possible to perceive without the use of the ordinary senses? Many people believe that "psychic phenomena" are rare talents or divine gifts. Others don't believe they exist at all. But the latest scientific research shows that these phenomena are both real and widespread, and are an unavoidable consequence of the interconnected, entangled physical reality we live in. Albert Einstein called entanglement "spooky action at a distance"—the way two objects remain connected through time and space, without communicating in any conventional way, long after their initial interaction has taken place. Could a similar entanglement of minds explain our apparent psychic abilities? Dean Radin, senior scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, believes it might. In this illuminating book, Radin shows how we know that psychic phenomena such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and psychokinesis are real, based on scientific evidence from thousands of controlled lab tests. Radin surveys the origins of this research and explores, among many topics, the collective premonitions of 9/11. He reveals the physical reality behind our uncanny telepathic experiences and intuitive hunches, and he debunks the skeptical myths surrounding them. Entangled Minds sets the stage for a rational, scientific understanding of psychic experience.

The Life of the Mind

The Life of the Mind
Author: Hannah Arendt
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 546
Release: 1981
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780156519922

The author's final work, presented in a one-volume edition, is a rich, challenging analysis of man's mental activity, considered in terms of thinking, willing, and judging. Edited by Mary McCarthy; Indices.

Body Over Mind

Body Over Mind
Author: Jill Spiewak Eng
Publisher: CreateSpace
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2013-09-24
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 9781492776406

Body Over Mind is compatible with works by Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie, Stephen Levine, and Robert Rabbin in its attempt to highlight the differences between thought and reality, and to foster an acceptance of what is. Backed by principles developed by F.M. Alexander, including the wholeness of the individual, the harmonious integration of the body, and a retraining of our reactions to mental and physical stress, Eng grounds us in our “physical reality,” which she defines as the existence of an individual in his or her activity in space and time. In her words, our physical reality gives us “an unmovable truth to pit against our skeptical thought process that unremittingly tries to talk us out of our personal status.” Relieving symptoms of anxiety, depression, and emotional pain stemming from worry, guilt, self-doubt, self-blame and a preoccupation with “should” thoughts, Eng offers a unique approach to mindfulness that disempowers self-judgment and negative self-talk. Designed to be used as a tool for combating the pressures of everyday life, or to simply enjoy as an insightful read, this book assimilates aspects of Buddhism, Hinduism, and modern-day practices that address the self-critical component of the human mind that victimizes so many of us on a moment to moment basis. Eng calls this practice, Mindful Reality.

Mind and Cosmos

Mind and Cosmos
Author: Thomas Nagel
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 141
Release: 2012-11-22
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0199919755

The modern materialist approach to life has conspicuously failed to explain such central mind-related features of our world as consciousness, intentionality, meaning, and value. This failure to account for something so integral to nature as mind, argues philosopher Thomas Nagel, is a major problem, threatening to unravel the entire naturalistic world picture, extending to biology, evolutionary theory, and cosmology. Since minds are features of biological systems that have developed through evolution, the standard materialist version of evolutionary biology is fundamentally incomplete. And the cosmological history that led to the origin of life and the coming into existence of the conditions for evolution cannot be a merely materialist history, either. An adequate conception of nature would have to explain the appearance in the universe of materially irreducible conscious minds, as such. Nagel's skepticism is not based on religious belief or on a belief in any definite alternative. In Mind and Cosmos, he does suggest that if the materialist account is wrong, then principles of a different kind may also be at work in the history of nature, principles of the growth of order that are in their logical form teleological rather than mechanistic. In spite of the great achievements of the physical sciences, reductive materialism is a world view ripe for displacement. Nagel shows that to recognize its limits is the first step in looking for alternatives, or at least in being open to their possibility.