The trajectory of Merleau-Ponty's career is often seen as a progressive development: he begins by analyzing scientific consciousness in The Structure of Behavior, complements that account with a phenomenological analysis of behavior as lived in Phenomenology of Perception, and then overcomes the "philosophy of consciousness" to which the earlier texts are committed in the turn toward an...
ABSTRACT Mapping the reports of awareness and its neural underpinnings is instrumental to understand the limits of human perception. The capacity to become aware of objects in the world may be studied by suppressing faint target stimuli with strong masking stimuli, or – alternatively – by manipulating the level of wakefulness from full alertness to mild drowsiness. By combining these two...
The “rationalizing interpretation” view of psychological discourse, associated with Donald Davidson and Daniel Dennett, has been widely influential as a reconstruction of our practices of ascribing attitudes to others, and as an account of the meaning of psychological terms. This perspective has lent support to a wider assumption in philosophy of mind, that we should think of our ordinary use...
Ketamine, a molecule of many faces, has contributed immeasurably to numerous realms of clinical practice and scientific inquiry. From anesthesia and analgesia to depression and schizophrenia, it continues to shed light on the molecular underpinnings of pain, consciousness, and the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric disorders. In particular, research on ketamine's mechanism of action is...
Recent randomized controlled trials of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for patients with cancer suggest that this treatment results in large-magnitude reductions in anxiety and depression as well as improvements in attitudes toward disease progression and death, quality of life, and spirituality. To better understand these findings, we sought to identify psychological mechanisms of action...
Background: After an occurrence of a Near-Death Experience (NDE), Near-Death Experiencers (NDErs) usually report extremely rich and detailed narratives. Phenomenologically, a NDE can be described as a set of distinguishable features. Some authors have proposed regular patterns of NDEs, however the actual temporality sequence of NDE core features remains a little explored area. Objectives: The...
Increasing the use of reusable shopping bags is one of many actions that consumers can take to reduce waste and conserve energy. However, this goal is somewhat daunting because it requires a significant behavior change on the part of consumers. Taking their self-transcendence into consideration, the current study used an experimental method to examine which type of message frame best influenced...
Although functional connectivity has received considerable attention in the study of consciousness, few studies have investigated functional connectivity limited to the sedated state where consciousness is maintained but impaired. The aim of the present study was to investigate changes in functional connectivity of the parietal-frontal network resulting from nitrous oxide-induced sedation, and...
The study of evolutionary patterns of cognitive convergence would be greatly helped by a clear demarcation of cognition. Cognition is often used as an equivalent of mind, making it difficult to pin down empirically or to apply it confidently beyond the human condition. Recent developments in embodied cognition and philosophy of biology now suggest an interpretation that dissociates cognition...
Studies • volume 106 • number 422 179 Some Reflections on Dawkins Bill Toner SJ Some weeks ago I was sitting in a quiet Dublin pub with a Jesuit friend talking about Richard Dawkins and the impact he seemed to be having on religious belief through his books, such as The Blind Watchmaker and The God Delusion.1 As is well known, Dawkins’main area of interest is evolution. He relies heavily on the...