This theoretical and speculative essay addresses a categorical distinction between neural events of sensory-motor cognition and those presumably associated with consciousness. It proposes to view this distinction in the framework of the branch of Statistical Physics currently referred to as Modern Critical Theory (Stanley, Introduction to phase transitions and critical phenomena, 1987; Marro...
Abstract:A new position in the philosophy of mind has recently appeared: the extended mind hypothesis (EMH). Some of its proponents think the EMH, which says that a subject's mental states can extend into the local environment, shows that internalism is false. I argue that this is wrong. The EMH does not refute internalism; in fact, it necessarily does not do so. The popular assumption that the...
The question is explored of the location of consciousness in the human brain. The author''s own studies of defects of consciousness as the result of the splitting of the corpus callosum are described and disorders of consciousness associated with damage to other specific areas of the brain are reviewed. A circuit spanning the brain is described which stretches from the parietal lobe at one side...
Combining phenomenological insights from Brentano and Sartre, but also drawing on recent work on consciousness by analytic philosophers, this book defends the view that conscious states are reflexive, and necessarily so, i.e., that they have a built-in, “implicit” awareness of their own occurrence, such that the subject of a conscious state has an immediate, non-objectual acquaintance with it....
Although recreational use of the dissociative anaesthetic drug ketamine is currently increasing, little is known about the phenomenological aspects of its use. We therefore designed a structured interview to examine initiation experiences, positive and negative effects of ketamine use, and concerns about the drug and its long-term effects. Ninety participants (30 frequent users, 30 infrequent...
Sleep paralysis (SP) occurs when rapid eye movement (REM) activity and concomitant paralysis of the skeletal muscles persist as an individual awakens and becomes conscious of his/her surroundings. SP is often accompanied by frightening hallucinations that some researchers suggest may be confounded with memories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA; [McNally, R. J., & Clancy, S. A. (2005). Sleep...
Mulder and colleagues [Mulder, T., Hochstenbach, J., Dijkstra, P. U., Geertzen, J. H. B. (2008). Born to adapt, but not in your dreams. Consciousness and Cognition, 17, 1266-1271.] report that a majority of amputees continue to experience a normally-limbed body during their night dreams. They interprete this observation as a failure of the body schema to adapt to the new body shape. The present...
Many clinical anecdotes and an experimental study have reported intensification of dreaming by the selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). However, no published neurochemical dream model invokes serotonin as a dream-promoting neuromodulator or accounts for serotonergic dream enhancement. An experimental study of normal volunteers showed that, although SSRI treatment decreased dream...
The "Triarchic body-pathway relaxation technique" (TBRT) is a form of ancient Chinese mindfulness-based meditation professed to give rise to positive emotions and a specific state of consciousness in which deep relaxation and internalized attention coexist. The purpose of this study was to examine the EEG pattern generated during the practice of this mindfulness exercise, and compare it to...
The author presents a case of self-organizing daimonic mythopoiesis. The spiritual tourist, entheogenic experimenter, and the painter enfold a matrix of inter-developed "sorties" into the allotropic differentials of the autopoietic process. Fieldwork in Mandi, Himashal Pradesh, India provides an introduction to the virtualities of the peripersonal as it manifests in a "darshan" or self-showing...