This essay examines Wilfrid Sellars’s critique of the “myth of the given” in empiricism, arguing that all knowledge—including perceptual knowledge—is mediated by a conceptual‑linguistic network. Drawing on Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind (1971), the paper shows that Sellars’s distinction between “seeing that something is the case” and merely “seeing something” entails that experience is...
Abstract The flow state has historically been a source of mystery and, at times, mysticism. Whereas some accounts of flow allude to the flowing individual’s conscious absorption and focus, others imply that the individual is, in fact, not conscious. If we take this latter model seriously, our intuition that those in flow ought to be creditable for their acts becomes deeply threatened. However,...
The question “What is consciousness?” is one of the oldest and most challenging problems in human thought. The attempt to understand consciousness, which stands at the center of humanity’s existential quest, has given rise to various intellectual traditions throughout history. In this context, panpsychism appears as one of the most deeply rooted approaches within the philosophy of mind. The...
Sam Parnia's stated aim is "to synthesize the most important scientific discoveries and make them available to professionals and the general public alike" (p.5).Lucid Dying is written in a straightforward though repetitive manner, and the tenor of the book is one of earnest enthusiasm if not actually proselytizing.Parnia is well qualified to have an opinion on this topic, as he has been in the...
EntropyMarch 12, 2026Erik Stänicke, Bendik Sparre Hovet, Line Indrevoll Stänicke
The recent paradigm shift within cognitive neuroscience toward predictive processing appears to align with many psychoanalytic conceptualizations of the mind. In this article, we argue that several psychoanalytic concepts, such as projection, transference, wish-fulfillment, and perceptual identity, are particularly compatible with the current neuroscientific conception of the brain as a...
From its inception in 1882, one of the main research interests of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) has been to determine whether mediums receive telepathic messages from the living mind of a bodily dead person, thus confirming personal life after bodily death, or from the mind of a sitter.Despite much continuing research, the issue as to whether we survive bodily death remains...
The parity principle is central to EM. If certain functions happen “in the head,” we have no problem calling them cognitive. But what&s;s so sacred about their occurring in the head? If a function happens outside the head, why not also call it cognitive? We explore the parity principle in greater detail and use it to expand what counts as part of the cognitive system.
Weak embodied cognition is characterized by commitment to some machinery of disembodiment, namely, representations. This is done by separating the structure and content of representations. A representation&s;s structure reflects a sense modality (e.g., sight, smell) and thereby shapes how that representation is processed. A representational account of embodiment allows for smooth integration...
Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) is a structured breathing-based meditation associated with improvements in stress regulation and mental health, yet its acute neurophysiological effects remain incompletely characterized using multivariate, subject-independent approaches. In this study, we investigated short-term pre–post neural modulation induced by a single long SKY session using...
This qualitative study examined how a 21-day integrated program fosters interoceptive awareness and mind-body integration among urban adults in mainland China (n = 11). The intervention combined daily nasal breathing regulation, spontaneous mandala making, and descriptive journaling, complemented by weekly group sharing. Using a cultural-psychological lens, we investigated how an inward-turning...