Psychiatry ResearchDecember 30, 2009Claire Dean, Brita Elvevåg, Gert Storms et al.
Although the phenomenology accompanying psychoses is fascinating, hitherto empirical examinations have been qualitative and thus limited in their clinical conclusions regarding the actual underlying cognitive mechanisms responsible for the formation and maintenance of the delusion, which is often distressing to the patient. We investigated the internal cognitive structure (i.e., connections) of...
Consciousness and causation are topics that intersect in two obvious ways.We can ask what the cause of consciousness is and we can ask how we become conscious of causation.Both questions take us back to seminal fi gures in the history of modern philosophy and both questions continue to be the subject of intense debate.Early in the twentieth century, Alfred North Whitehead proposed a radical...
This is the second part of a review of the work of quantum physicists on the 'hard part' of the problem of mind. After an introduction which sets the scene and a brief review of contemporary work on the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) the work of four prominent modern investigators is examined: J.C. Eccles/Friedrich Beck; Henry Stapp; Stuart Hameroff/Roger Penrose; David Bohm. With the...
Many people believe that mysterious phenomenon of consciousness may be connected with quantum features of our world. The present author proposed so-called Extended Everett's Concept (EEC) that allowed to explain consciousness and super-consciousness (intuitive knowledge). Brain, according to EEC, is an interface between consciousness and super-consciousness on the one part and body on the other...
in modern science that is causing waves in the philosophy of mind. Can there be artificial minds? Can machines be made to think? Can machines be conscious? Is it possible for artificial intelligence to replace the human brain? These and similar questions pervade most discussions and philosophical polemics on the issue of artificial intelligence. While some analysts think that in a very...
This chapter draws connections between the idea of svasamvitti or svasamvedana (reflexive awareness, apperception), a phenomenon very controversial in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy from the 6th through the 19th centuries, and the idea of methodological solipsism in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science, made popular by Fodor in the late 20th century. It explores many...
ABSTRACTMost of us would agree that the world of our experience is different than the extramental reality of which we are a part. Indeed, the evidence pertaining to cultural cosmologies around the globe suggests that virtually all peoples recognize this distinction—hence the focus upon the “hidden” forces behind everyday events. That said, the struggle to comprehend the relationship between our...
A phenomenological approach using the states of spin-like observables is developed to understand the nature of consciousness and the totality of experience. The three states of consciousness are taken to form the triplet of eigenstates of a spin-one entity and are derived as the triplet resulting from the composition of two spins by treating the subject and the object as interacting two-state,...
Since Descartes' dualism, with his res extensa and res cogitans, six fundamental problems in the philosophy and natural history of mind are these: 1. how does mind act on matter? 2. If mind does not act on matter is mind a mere epiphenomenon? 3. What might be the source of free will? 4. What might be the source of a responsible free will? 5. Why might it have been selectively advantageous to...
We have analysed the many facets of Consciousness into two distinct categories. First: the organisational state of the neural networks at any one time, which determines whether a person is conscious - awake, or unconscious - asleep. Second: the processes that underlie the traffic of electrical signals across these networks that accounts for all the experiences of conscious awareness. This paper...
The term "synthetic phenomenology" refers to: 1) any attempt to characterize the phenomenal states possessed, or modeled by, an artefact (such as a robot); or 2) any attempt to use an artefact to help specify phenomenal states (independently of whether such states are possessed by a naturally conscious being or an artefact). The notion of synthetic phenomenology is clarified, and distinguished...
The accomplishments of Heidelberg psychopathology and their continued development are illustrated using the example of the concept of psychosis. Jaspers founded the Heidelberg school by methodologically collating the psychiatric knowledge of his time in a structured fashion and in doing so laid the foundation for modern nosology. While, however, ICD and DSM classifications tend to be modelled...
The philosophical investigation of consciousness has a long-standing history in both Indian and Western thought. The conceptual models and analyses that have emerged in one cultural framework may be profitably reviewed in the light of another. In this context, a study of the notion of consciousness in the transcendental phenomenology of Edmund Husserl is not only important as a focus on a...
In the letter “Neuroscience and the soul” (27 February, p. 1168), M. J. Farah and N. Murphy state that eventually neuroscience and the material system it describes may be able to explain all facets of being human. This idea strikes me as a somewhat naïve and simple faith in scientific progress rather than an accurate assessment of current thinking on this issue. Some years ago, the philosopher...
Abstract Of the following three selections, the first two, the Anatta-lakkha a Sutta and a part of the Mahānidā na Sutta, are from the Theravādin Pali canonical collection of discourses attributed to the Buddha. The third is from a postcanonical Pali text, the Milindapañha. While they all contain points and arguments of philosophical relevance, they are not as such systematic philosophical...
Previous research has found a relationship between sleep paralysis (SP) and anxiety states and higher rates have been reported among certain ethnic groups. To advance the cross-cultural study of SP, we developed a brief assessment instrument (which can be self-administered), the Unusual Sleep Experiences Questionnaire (USEQ). In this article, we report on a pilot study with the USEQ in a sample...
In my thesis I discuss and criticize the work of three important philosophers: CD. Broad, Gilbert Ryle, and D.C. Dennett. These three figures serve as reference points, allowing me to frame the discussion of my view that there is an emerging tradition in contemporary philosophy of mind, a tradition which has its roots in the philosophical views of Gilbert Ryle. I'll show that CD. Broad belongs...
Patients with narcolepsy often experience pervasive hypnagogic hallucinations, sometimes even leading to confusion with schizophrenia. We aimed to provide a detailed qualitative description of hypnagogic hallucinations and other "psychotic" symptoms in patients with narcolepsy and contrast these with schizophrenia patients and healthy controls. We also compared the prevalence of formal...