The cognitive sciences may be understood to contribute to religion‐and‐science as a metadisciplinary discussion in ways that can be organized according to the three persons of narrative, encoding the themes of consciousness, relationality, and healing. First‐person accounts are likely to be important to the understanding of consciousness, the “hard problem” of subjective experience, and...
There is a kinship between Owen Flanagan's The Really Hard Problem and William James's The Varieties of Religious Experience that not only can help us to understand Flanagan's book but also can help scholars, particularly scholars of religion, to be attentive to an important development in the realm of the “spiritual but not religious.” Specifically, Flanagan's book continues a tradition in...
Abstract This chapter focuses on mindfulness as it relates to school-based settings and uses the framework of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) to describe the different components of mindfulness-based practices. Additionally, this chapter highlights related skills and strategies that are taught within a universal (school-wide) curriculum designed for middle and high school students: DBT...
According to ancient principles of Sanatana(eternal) dharma, the four Purusharthas include Dharma (righteous), Artha(just means for acquiring wealth), Kama (fulfilling basic desires and needs of human life), and Moksha i.e enlightenment, be one with the Paramatma. The ultimate goal for human birth is described as Moksha or being one with Paramatma in Adi Shankaracharya's VivekaChudamani. One...
SUBJECT AND OBJECTIVES: Purpose in this paper is to examine the criticism, explore the main issues raised, show how these issues are related to contemporary philosophical discussions, and suggest how Sadra’s position might be defended. Two kinds of defense will be suggested: first, we can surmise from Sadra’s works how he might have responded to the criticism; second, we can consider how a...
Abstract We introduce a formal framework for modeling recursive Theory--of--Mind ($TM$) dynamics inside the Symbolic Functional Consciousness ($SFC$) architecture, integrating hierarchical cognitive representation with goal--directed and insight--driven learning. Cognitive-affective states are factorized into four levels---L1 capacities, L2 mindsets, L3 core senses, and L4 global states of...
Abstract The imagination seems to enjoy a conceptually unstable double‐life within Merleau‐Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception . Oscillating between a Kantian use of the term, as a ‘necessary ingredient of perception itself’ and a Sartrean depiction of what appears when say, viewing a painting or visualising an absent friend, as a nothingness that is of an entirely different ‘flesh’ to that of...
ABSTRACT The evolution of phenomenal consciousness remains a central challenge in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science. Although many argue that consciousness can be understood as a biological phenomenon, there is considerable disagreement about its origins. Competing theories range from early evolution views, which trace consciousness back to the Cambrian period around 540 million...
Though there is a vast literature on philosophy of mind, there have been few attempts to defend a Vaiṣṇava theory of consciousness. In this paper, I outline one such theory, distinguish it from Cartesian substance dualism, and defend it. I also note that though this theory differs from Cartesian substance dualism in certain respects, it faces many of the same objections. I then address two of...
A spontaneous and direct After-Death Communication (ADC) occurs when a person unexpectedly perceives a deceased person. These contacts, which appear to be initiated by the deceased, are perceived through the senses of sight, hearing, touch, or smell. Often, the experient simply senses the presence of the deceased. ADCs occur while awake, asleep or falling asleep (in a hypnagogic state of...