The theory of predictive processing in the comprehensive articulation proposed by Karl Friston is a framework that boasts an impressively wide explanatory power in neurobiology, where processes apparently as diverse as perception, action, attention, and learning unfold, and are coherently orchestrated, according to the single general mandate of free-energy minimization. In the present opinion...
There occurred in the twentieth century the most remarkable episode in the history of human thought. A number of thinkers denied the existence of something we know with certainty to exist: consciousness, conscious experience. Others held back from the Denial, as we may call it, but claimed that it might be true—a claim no less remarkable than the Denial. This paper documents some aspects of...
Richard Hayes (1993, 2013) and Dan Arnold (2008, 2012) have argued that Dharmakīrti (c. 600-660 C.E.) is a mind-body dualist. The proof, they say, lies in the justification he gives for his theory of rebirth. In this paper, I put Dharmakīrti’s argument to the test against a rival argument of Nāgārjuna. It turns out Nāgārjuna completely rejects the mind-body dualism of Dharmakīrti and the...
Bioelectric oscillations occur throughout the nervous system of nearly all animals, revealed to play an important role in various aspects of cognitive activity such as information processing and feature binding. Modern research into this dynamic and intrinsic bioelectric activity of neural cells continues to raise questions regarding their role in consciousness and cognition. In this...
Reviewed by: The Trials of Psychedelic Therapy: LSD Psychotherapy in America by Matthew Oram Nicolas Rasmussen Matthew Oram. The Trials of Psychedelic Therapy: LSD Psychotherapy in America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018. xiv + 269 pp. Ill. $49.95 (978-1-4214-2620-4). The colorful history of the hallucinogen LSD has attracted the attention of numerous historians of medicine,...
While interest in the study of psychedelic drugs has increased over much of the last decade, in this article, we argue that 2018 marked the true turning point for the field. Substantive advances in the scientific, public, and regulatory communities in 2018 significantly elevated the status and long-term outlook of psychedelic science, particularly in the United States. Advances in the...
Ullin Place was an extraordinary person. From his early interest in mysticism he later turned to anthropology, which in turn brought him to logical behaviorism. While working on the improvement of logical behaviorism Place formulated the thesis of mind-brain identity, and has thereby founded the identity theory, which is still one of the most influential approaches in contemporary philosophy of...
The extended mind thesis maintains that while minds may be centrallylocated in one’s brain-and-body, they are sometimes partly constitutedby tools in our environment. Critics argue that we have no reason tomove from the claim that cognition is embedded in the environment tothe stronger claim that cognition can be constituted by the environment.I will argue that there are normative reasons, both...
The long-standing philosophical argument generally known as “hardware independent functionalism” is presented. This position maintains that consciousness is at its heart computational and any artifact that carried out all the causal functions of a mind would become conscious. This position is critiqued and shown to be hopelessly flawed. There is a long discussion on the “other minds” problem...
Abstract: In this article, we share how during a time of retreat from our academic careers we engaged in a shared contemplative arts process that included two practices, the first being renga, or linked verse poetry, and the second being Miksang, or contemplative photography. Through our particular collaboration, we sought to co-create a space where healthy habits of mind and open-hearted...