Perplexities Of Consciousness

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Perplexities of Consciousness

Eric Schwitzgebel
Perplexities of Consciousness Book PDF

Author : Eric Schwitzgebel
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 238 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2011-01-28
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780262295086

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Perplexities of Consciousness by Eric Schwitzgebel Pdf

A philosopher argues that we know little about our own inner lives. Do you dream in color? If you answer Yes, how can you be sure? Before you recount your vivid memory of a dream featuring all the colors of the rainbow, consider that in the 1950s researchers found that most people reported dreaming in black and white. In the 1960s, when most movies were in color and more people had color television sets, the vast majority of reported dreams contained color. The most likely explanation for this, according to the philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel, is not that exposure to black-and-white media made people misremember their dreams. It is that we simply don't know whether or not we dream in color. In Perplexities of Consciousness, Schwitzgebel examines various aspects of inner life (dreams, mental imagery, emotions, and other subjective phenomena) and argues that we know very little about our stream of conscious experience. Drawing broadly from historical and recent philosophy and psychology to examine such topics as visual perspective, and the unreliability of introspection, Schwitzgebel finds us singularly inept in our judgments about conscious experience.

A Theory of Jerks and Other Philosophical Misadventures

Eric Schwitzgebel
A Theory of Jerks and Other Philosophical Misadventures Book PDF

Author : Eric Schwitzgebel
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 381 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2019-11-05
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780262355360

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A Theory of Jerks and Other Philosophical Misadventures by Eric Schwitzgebel Pdf

A collection of quirky, entertaining, and reader-friendly short pieces on philosophical topics that range from a theory of jerks to the ethics of ethicists. Have you ever wondered about why some people are jerks? Asked whether your driverless car should kill you so that others may live? Found a robot adorable? Considered the ethics of professional ethicists? Reflected on the philosophy of hair? In this engaging, entertaining, and enlightening book, Eric Schwitzgebel turns a philosopher's eye on these and other burning questions. In a series of quirky and accessible short pieces that cover a mind-boggling variety of philosophical topics, Schwitzgebel offers incisive takes on matters both small (the consciousness of garden snails) and large (time, space, and causation). A common theme might be the ragged edge of the human intellect, where moral or philosophical reflection begins to turn against itself, lost among doubts and improbable conclusions. The history of philosophy is humbling when we see how badly wrong previous thinkers have been, despite their intellectual skills and confidence. (See, for example, “Kant on Killing Bastards, Masturbation, Organ Donation, Homosexuality, Tyrants, Wives, and Servants.”) Some of the texts resist thematic categorization—thoughts on the philosophical implications of dreidels, the diminishing offensiveness of the most profane profanity, and fatherly optimism—but are no less interesting. Schwitzgebel has selected these pieces from the more than one thousand that have appeared since 2006 in various publications and on his popular blog, The Splintered Mind, revising and updating them for this book. Philosophy has never been this much fun.

Describing Inner Experience?

Russell Hurlburt,Eric Schwitzgebel
Describing Inner Experience Book PDF

Author : Russell Hurlburt,Eric Schwitzgebel
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 333 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2011-08-19
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9780262263160

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Describing Inner Experience? by Russell Hurlburt,Eric Schwitzgebel Pdf

A psychologist and a philosopher with opposing viewpoints discuss the extent to which it is possible to report accurately on our own conscious experience, considering both the reliability of introspection in general and the particular self-reported inner experiences of "Melanie," a subject interviewed using the Descriptive Experience Sampling method. Can conscious experience be described accurately? Can we give reliable accounts of our sensory experiences and pains, our inner speech and imagery, our felt emotions? The question is central not only to our humanistic understanding of who we are but also to the burgeoning scientific field of consciousness studies. The two authors of Describing Inner Experience disagree on the answer: Russell Hurlburt, a psychologist, argues that improved methods of introspective reporting make accurate accounts of inner experience possible; Eric Schwitzgebel, a philosopher, believes that any introspective reporting is inevitably prone to error. In this book the two discuss to what extent it is possible to describe our inner experience accurately. Hurlburt and Schwitzgebel recruited a subject, "Melanie," to report on her conscious experience using Hurlburt's Descriptive Experience Sampling method (in which the subject is cued by random beeps to describe her conscious experience). The heart of the book is Melanie's accounts, Hurlburt and Schwitzgebel's interviews with her, and their subsequent discussions while studying the transcripts of the interviews. In this way the authors' dispute about the general reliability of introspective reporting is steadily tempered by specific debates about the extent to which Melanie's particular reports are believable. Transcripts and audio files of the interviews will be available on the MIT Press website. Describing Inner Experience? is not so much a debate as it is a collaboration, with each author seeking to refine his position and to replace partisanship with balanced critical judgment. The result is an illumination of major issues in the study of consciousness—from two sides at once.

The Weirdness of the World

Eric Schwitzgebel
The Weirdness of the World Book PDF

Author : Eric Schwitzgebel
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 376 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2024-01-16
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780691215679

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The Weirdness of the World by Eric Schwitzgebel Pdf

How all philosophical explanations of human consciousness and the fundamental structure of the cosmos are bizarre—and why that’s a good thing Do we live inside a simulated reality or a pocket universe embedded in a larger structure about which we know virtually nothing? Is consciousness a purely physical matter, or might it require something extra, something nonphysical? According to the philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel, it’s hard to say. In The Weirdness of the World, Schwitzgebel argues that the answers to these fundamental questions lie beyond our powers of comprehension. We can be certain only that the truth—whatever it is—is weird. Philosophy, he proposes, can aim to open—to reveal possibilities we had not previously appreciated—or to close, to narrow down to the one correct theory of the phenomenon in question. Schwitzgebel argues for a philosophy that opens. According to Schwitzgebel’s “Universal Bizarreness” thesis, every possible theory of the relation of mind and cosmos defies common sense. According to his complementary “Universal Dubiety” thesis, no general theory of the relationship between mind and cosmos compels rational belief. Might the United States be a conscious organism—a conscious group mind with approximately the intelligence of a rabbit? Might virtually every action we perform cause virtually every possible type of future event, echoing down through the infinite future of an infinite universe? What, if anything, is it like to be a garden snail? Schwitzgebel makes a persuasive case for the thrill of considering the most bizarre philosophical possibilities.

Artificial You

Susan Schneider
Artificial You Book PDF

Author : Susan Schneider
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2021-04-13
Category : Computers
ISBN : 9780691216744

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Artificial You by Susan Schneider Pdf

"Humans may not be Earth's most intelligent beings for much longer: the world champions of chess, Go, and Jeopardy! are now all AIs. Given the rapid pace of progress in AI, many predict that it could advance to human-level intelligence within the next several decades. From there, it could quickly outpace human intelligence. What do these developments mean for the future of the mind? In Artificial You, Susan Schneider says that it is inevitable that AI will take intelligence in new directions, but urges that it is up to us to carve out a sensible path forward. As AI technology turns inward, reshaping the brain, as well as outward, potentially creating machine minds, it is crucial to beware. Homo sapiens, as mind designers, will be playing with "tools" they do not understand how to use: the self, the mind, and consciousness. Schneider argues that an insufficient grasp of the nature of these entities could undermine the use of AI and brain enhancement technology, bringing about the demise or suffering of conscious beings. To flourish, we must grasp the philosophical issues lying beneath the algorithms. At the heart of her exploration is a sober-minded discussion of what AI can truly achieve: Can robots really be conscious? Can we merge with AI, as tech leaders like Elon Musk and Ray Kurzweil suggest? Is the mind just a program? Examining these thorny issues, Schneider proposes ways we can test for machine consciousness, questions whether consciousness is an unavoidable byproduct of sophisticated intelligence, and considers the overall dangers of creating machine minds."--Provided by publisher.

Philosophy in a Meaningless Life

James Tartaglia
Philosophy in a Meaningless Life Book PDF

Author : James Tartaglia
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 233 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2015-12-17
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781474247689

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Philosophy in a Meaningless Life by James Tartaglia Pdf

This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by Knowledge Unlatched. Philosophy in a Meaningless Life provides an account of the nature of philosophy which is rooted in the question of the meaning of life. It makes a powerful and vivid case for believing that this question is neither obscure nor obsolete, but reflects a quintessentially human concern to which other traditional philosophical problems can be readily related; allowing them to be reconnected with natural interest, and providing a diagnosis of the typical lines of opposition across philosophy's debates. James Tartaglia looks at the various ways philosophers have tried to avoid the conclusion that life is meaningless, and in the process have distanced philosophy from the concept of transcendence. Rejecting all of this, Tartaglia embraces nihilism ('we are here with nothing to do'), and uses transcendence both to provide a new solution to the problem of consciousness, and to explain away perplexities about time and universals. He concludes that with more self-awareness, philosophy can attain higher status within a culture increasingly in need of it.

Confessions of a Born-Again Pagan

Anthony T. Kronman
Confessions of a Born Again Pagan Book PDF

Author : Anthony T. Kronman
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 1174 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2016-10-28
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780300224917

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Confessions of a Born-Again Pagan by Anthony T. Kronman Pdf

In this passionate and searching book, Anthony Kronman offers a third way—beyond atheism and religion—to the God of the modern world We live in an age of disenchantment. The number of self-professed “atheists” continues to grow. Yet many still feel an intense spiritual longing for a connection to what Aristotle called the “eternal and divine.” For those who do, but demand a God that is compatible with their modern ideals, a new theology is required. This is what Anthony Kronman offers here, in a book that leads its readers away from the inscrutable Creator of the Abrahamic religions toward a God whose inexhaustible and everlasting presence is that of the world itself. Kronman defends an ancient conception of God, deepened and transformed by Christian belief—the born-again paganism on which modern science, art, and politics all vitally depend. Brilliantly surveying centuries of Western thought—from Plato to Augustine, Aquinas, and Kant, from Spinoza to Nietzsche, Darwin, and Freud—Kronman recovers and reclaims the God we need today.

Introspection and Consciousness

Declan Smithies,Daniel Stoljar
Introspection and Consciousness Book PDF

Author : Declan Smithies,Daniel Stoljar
Publisher : OUP USA
Page : 436 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2012-07-11
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780199744794

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Introspection and Consciousness by Declan Smithies,Daniel Stoljar Pdf

The topic of introspection stands at the interface between questions in epistemology about the nature of self-knowledge and questions in the philosophy of mind about the nature of consciousness. What is the nature of introspection such that it provides us with a distinctive way of knowing about our own conscious mental states? And what is the nature of consciousness such that we can know about our own conscious mental states by introspection? How should we understand the relationship between consciousness and introspective self-knowledge? Should we explain consciousness in terms of introspective self-knowledge or vice versa? Until recently, questions in epistemology and the philosophy of mind were pursued largely in isolation from one another. This volume aims to integrate these two lines of research by bringing together fourteen new essays and one reprinted essay on the relationship between introspection, self-knowledge, and consciousness.

Physics of the Soul

Amit Goswami
Physics of the Soul Book PDF

Author : Amit Goswami
Publisher : Hampton Roads Publishing
Page : 306 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2013-12-01
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781612833248

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Physics of the Soul by Amit Goswami Pdf

"Dr. Amit Goswami is one of the most brilliant minds in the world of science. His insights into the relationship between physics and consciousness have deeply influenced by understanding, and I am deeply grateful to him. Physics of the Soul is both challenging and brilliant." —Deepak Chopra Quantum Physics and Spirituality Made Simple At last, science and the soul shake hands. Writing in a style that is both lucid and charming, mischievous and profound, Dr. Amit Goswami uses the language and concepts of quantum physics to explore and scientifically prove metaphysical theories of reincarnation and immortality. In Physics of the Soul, Goswami helps readers understand the perplexities of the quantum physics model of reality and the perennial beliefs of spiritual and religious traditions. He shows how they are not only compatible but also provide essential support for each other. The result is a deeply broadened, exciting, and enriched worldview that integrates mind and spirit into science.

Attention

Wayne Wu
Attention Book PDF

Author : Wayne Wu
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 326 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2014-04-24
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781317693970

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Attention by Wayne Wu Pdf

Attention is a fundamental feature of the mind yet has languished in the backwaters of philosophy. Recent years, however, have witnessed a resurgence of philosophical interest in attention, driven by recognition that it is closely connected to consciousness, perception, agency, thought, justification and introspection. As is becoming clear, attention has a rich philosophical significance. This is the first book to provide a systematic overview and assessment of different empirical and philosophical aspects of attention. Wayne Wu discusses the following central topics and problems: major experiments and theories of attention in psychology since the 1950s the neuroscience of attention, including basic mechanisms and models attention’s intimate relation to agency the phenomenology of attention attention as a gatekeeper for consciousness attention as the basis for perception-based thought about objects the role of attention in the justification of belief attention in introspection of consciousness. A key feature of the book is its skilful analysis of the empirical work on attention, and how this relates to philosophy. Additional features include chapter summaries, annotated further reading and a glossary, making this an ideal starting point for anyone studying attention for the first time, as well as being suitable for more advanced students and researchers in psychology, cognitive science, and philosophy.

Pre-reflective Consciousness

Sofia Miguens,Gerhard Preyer,Clara Bravo Morando
Pre reflective Consciousness Book PDF

Author : Sofia Miguens,Gerhard Preyer,Clara Bravo Morando
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 520 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2015-10-16
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781317399285

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Pre-reflective Consciousness by Sofia Miguens,Gerhard Preyer,Clara Bravo Morando Pdf

Pre-reflective Consciousness: Sartre and Contemporary Philosophy of Mind delves into the relationship between the current analytical debates on consciousness and the debates that took place within continental philosophy in the twentieth century and in particular around the time of Sartre and within his seminal works. Examining the return of the problem of subjectivity in philosophy of mind and the idea that phenomenal consciousness could not be reduced to functional or cognitive properties, this volume includes twenty-two unique contributions from leading scholars in the field. Asking questions such as: Why we should think that self-consciousness is non-reflective? Is subjectivity first-personal? Does consciousness necessitate self-awareness? Do we need pre-reflective self-consciousness? Are ego-disorders in psychosis a dysfunction of pre-reflective self-awareness? How does the Cartesian duality between body and mind fit into Sartre’s conceptions of consciousness?

The Bloomsbury Companion to the Philosophy of Consciousness

Dale Jacquette
The Bloomsbury Companion to the Philosophy of Consciousness Book PDF

Author : Dale Jacquette
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 504 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2018-01-25
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781474229029

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The Bloomsbury Companion to the Philosophy of Consciousness by Dale Jacquette Pdf

From Descartes and Cartesian mind-body dualism in the 17th century though to 21st-century concerns about artificial intelligence programming, The Bloomsbury Companion to the Philosophy of Consciousness presents a compelling history and up-to-date overview of this burgeoning subject area. Acknowledging that many of the original concepts of consciousness studies are found in writings of past thinkers, it begins with introductory overviews to the thought of Descartes through to Kant, covering Brentano's restoration of empiricism to philosophical psychology and the major figures of the late 19th and early 20th centuries: Russell, Wittgenstein, Ryle and James. These opening chapters on the forces in the history of consciousness lay the groundwork needed to understand how influential contemporary thinkers in the philosophy of mind interpret the concept of consciousness. Featuring leading figures in the field, Part II discusses current issues in a range of topics progressing from the so-called hard problem of understanding the nature of consciousness, to the methodology of invoking the possibility of philosophical zombies and the prospects of reductivism in philosophy of mind. Part III is dedicated to new research directions in the philosophy of consciousness, including chapters on experiment objections to functionalism and the scope and limits of artificial intelligence. Equipped with practical research resources including an annotated bibliography, a research guide and a glossary, The Bloomsbury Companion to the Philosophy of Consciousness is an authoritative guide for studying the past, present and future of consciousness.

Structuring Mind

Sebastian Watzl
Structuring Mind Book PDF

Author : Sebastian Watzl
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2017-03-09
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780191633003

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Structuring Mind by Sebastian Watzl Pdf

What is attention? How does attention shape consciousness? In an approach that engages with foundational topics in the philosophy of mind, the theory of action, psychology, and the neurosciences this book provides a unified and comprehensive answer to both questions. Sebastian Watzl shows that attention is a central structural feature of the mind. The first half of the book provides an account of the nature of attention. Attention is prioritizing, it consists in regulating priority structures. Attention is not another element of the mind, but constituted by structures that organize, integrate, and coordinate the parts of our mind. Attention thus integrates the perceptual and intellectual, the cognitive and motivational, and the epistemic and practical. The second half of the book concerns the relationship between attention and consciousness. Watzl argues that attentional structure shapes consciousness into what is central and what is peripheral. The center-periphery structure of consciousness cannot be reduced to the structure of how the world appears to the subject. What it is like for us thus goes beyond the way the world appears to us. On this basis, a new view of consciousness is offered. In each conscious experience we actively take a stance on the world we appear to encounter. It is in this sense that our conscious experience is our subjective perspective.

Simultaneity and Delay

Jay Lampert
Simultaneity and Delay Book PDF

Author : Jay Lampert
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2012-02-09
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781441183057

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Simultaneity and Delay by Jay Lampert Pdf

Through original speculations on the surprisingly complementary concepts of simultaneity and delay, and new interpretations of the great philosophers of time, this book proposes an innovative theory of staggered time. In the early 20th Century, Bergson and Husserl (following Einstein) made Simultaneity-what it means for events to occur at the same time-a central motif in philosophy. In the late 20th Century, Derrida and Deleuze instead emphasized Delay-events staggered over distant times. This struggle between convergent and staggered time also plays out in 20th Century aesthetics (especially music), politics, and the sciences. Despite their importance in the history of philosophy, this is the first book to comprehensively examine the concepts of simultaneity and delay. By putting simultaneity and delay into a dialectical relation, this book argues that time in general is organized by elastic rhythms. Lampert's concepts describe the time-structures of such diverse phenomena as atonal music, political decision-making, neuronal delays, leaps of memory and the boredom of waiting; and simultaneities and delays in everyday experience and behaviour.

The Conscious Mind

David J. Chalmers
The Conscious Mind Book PDF

Author : David J. Chalmers
Publisher : Oxford Paperbacks
Page : 436 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Medical
ISBN : 0195117891

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The Conscious Mind by David J. Chalmers Pdf

Writing in a rigorous, thought-provoking style, the author takes us on a far-reaching tour through the philosophical ramifications of consciousness, offering provocative insights into the relationship between mind and brain.