Richard Linklater’s film, “Waking Life,” is a visually and philosophically surreal journey exploring theories of consciousness. Since its release in 2001, the film has developed something of a cult following online, in part because of its unusual animation technique and in part because of its philosophical content. From our perspective as humanities educators with an interest in teaching and...
An astonishing array of theoretical discourses appear woven together seamlessly in Semetsky’s rationale for using Tarot practice as a tool for education, drawing from theoretical traditions that range from Jung’s and Pauli’s theories of archetypes and synchronicity, to chaos and complexity or complex systems theories, to C.S. Peirce’s semiotic pragmaticism, to natural law, to hermeneutics, and...
A review of The Tree of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Understanding, by Humberto R. Maturana and Francisco J. Varela, 1998 [1987]. Revised Edition. Boston and London: Shambhala Publications, 269 pp. ISBN 0877736421. $29.95 USD.
The paper argues for the significance of complexity science and its role in the ethics of teaching that is not based on moral codes. Through the work of Varela on human consciousness, and the work of Newburg and his colleagues on neurotheology, the paper explores the elements of human consciousness that are relevant for characterising an ethical act. Varela’s concepts of emergent self and...