Giulia Parola, Catherine I. Andreu, Valerie Bonnelle et al.
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Abstract Self-transcendent experiences, characterized by reduced self-focus and a sense of connection to something greater than oneself, have been linked to positive mental-health outcomes. However, existing induction methods, such as meditation, require sustained training, while pharmacological approaches (e.g., psychedelics) raise legal and ethical issues. Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as...
J.H. Van Hateren
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This book provides a comprehensive overview of my recent theoretical work that aims to explain some of the more puzzling properties of life and mind, in particular agency, goal-directedness and consciousness. It contains published papers as well as new material. Table of contents: Preface - PART I: GROUNDWORK - 1. Introduction - 2. The basic mechanism - 3. Inclusive and extensive fitness - 4....
Barco Jie You
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Abstract A central challenge in neuroscience and psychology is to explain how an individual’s unique life history sculpts their cognitive dispositions, giving rise to stable patterns of perception, thought, and action, as well as the phenomenal experience of consciousness. Here we propose a formal computational framework in which the unconscious mind is reconceptualised not as a passive...
Chandni Lal, Matt Welhaf, Michael J. Kane
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Four studies evaluated probed mind-blanking reports, an off-task conscious state ostensibly experienced as an absence of thought and subjective experience. We examined whether people make mind-blanking reports to indicate uncertainty about their preceding thoughts, rather than to communicate an experienced “blank;” we also assessed whether subjects used “blank” to refer to the absence of...
Lucius Caviola
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As AI systems become increasingly advanced and human-like, societies will face a fundamental question: are these systems conscious, and if so, do they deserve moral or legal rights? This chapter argues that rather than converging on a shared answer, society is likely to enter a period of confusion, uncertainty, and deep disagreement. Drawing on recent empirical evidence, it shows that both...
This work provides a formal architecture of consciousness based on a single axiom of existence - consciousness is the fundamental basis of reality and not a product of matter. It combines the principles of Advaita Vedanta philosophy, the “hard problem” of consciousness (Chalmers), and quantum informational theory (Faggin & D‘ariano) to develop a framework that provides an ontic-epistemic...
James Amarante
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Psychedelic experiences are often described through the language of “ego dissolution,” a phrase that appears to rest on a vertical model of mind in which ordinary egoic identity overlays deeper unconscious, authentic, or transpersonal layers of experience. This paper argues that while psychedelics can profoundly alter self-experience, the language of ego dissolution imports a questionable...
Fabio Mattiussi, Patrizio Tressoldi
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This study investigates the perspectives of Advanced Meditators (AMs) on death, focusing on their beliefs, emotional responses, and sense-making processes related to the end of life. Drawing on the responses obtained through direct interviews with 45 experienced practitioners, we utilized thematic analysis to identify a distinctive pattern of existential attitudes shaped by long-term...
Otto Lehto, Liam D. Ryan
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The problem of other minds takes an especially acute form in thorny comparative cases, when we ask whether an infant is more, less, or differently conscious than an adult, or whether an octopus is more, less, or differently conscious than a dog. These judgments must be made in the absence of a settled theory of consciousness while navigating significant empirical uncertainties. For all these...
Giovanni Landi
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The word "Philosophy" can be used in many ways. We can talk about “the philosophy of design", "philosophy of fashion", "cooking philosophy" and so on; or each of us can refer to our "philosophy" both in a general sense or with regard to a specific field ("my philosophy in the office is never to discuss politics"). This kind of expression is not very harmful, no one would confuse all this with...