Epilogue

2021 ◽  
pp. 283-293
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Phenomenal Consciousness ◽  
Symbolic Language ◽  
Reflective Consciousness ◽  
The World ◽  
Meaning And Purpose ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Person Experience

The future will most likely bring machines with artificial conscious minds, that at some point will be more intelligent than we are. But their minds will be also different than ours. Will we be able to understand them? Will they understand us? A sense of consciousness is a simple, direct feeling, so it is a quale! This is a subjective, first-person experience. We will never be able to describe it in a strictly symbolic language and even less so in formal one such as mathematics, geometry, or logic. Reflecting on how we can understand our own consciousness, we must consider the foundation for understanding. A sense of understanding requires the compatibility of a stimulant signal with activated cognitive memory fields. The feeling of consciousness is related to every act of recognition and the attribute of reflective consciousness is to realize that we are conscious. The essence of consciousness is to build a model of reality, to define/understand its place in this reality, and to feel emotion and satisfaction arising from that fact. The mind understands what can be “good” for it in the shorter and longer term. The formulation of the long-term goal of existence constitutes a sense of self-existence and, consequently, the meaning of the world as a tool for fulfilling one's mission in this world. It is astonishing that if we ask about the purpose and meaning of the matter, we must admit that no such purpose exists, if there is no consciousness for which we could formulate such a purpose. Thus, the meaning and purpose of the existence of matter is the emergence of consciousness. This sense arises at the moment when consciousness arises. The presented model of a motivated emotional mind explains the main features of the human psyche. It explains how reflective and phenomenal consciousness are created, how the mind formulates the meaning and purpose of a person's existence and the meaning of the world around him, how he obtains his free will, and how he can effectively act for his own good. It explains how the need for understanding, harmony, and beauty can create art, ethics, and goodness, how emotions directing the mind can unleash feelings of empathy and love. It also explains that to fulfill these functions, to learn everything that is good and noble but also what is evil and immoral, it is necessary to have a body able to influence the environment and the mind to reflect on it.

The World Is Going to Hell, the Young No Longer Respect Their Elders, and Other Tricks of the Mind

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 366-371
Author(s):  
Piers Steel ◽  
John Kammeyer-Mueller
Keyword(s):  
Generation X ◽  
First Principles ◽  
Baby Boom ◽  
Baby Boom Generation ◽  
Poor Predictor ◽  
The World ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Genetic Contributions ◽  
Ingroup Outgroup

The notion of a “Millennial” generation, much like a “Generation X” or the “Baby Boom” generation, with a strong coherence in terms of values and norms that differ from previous cohorts, has been of dependable interest in the popular press. However, given what we know regarding the proportion of trait expression due to sources largely immune to cohort effects (e.g., large genetic contributions), how difficult it is for us to systematically influence their expression (e.g., small long-term parental effects), and the massive variation within groups, the meta-analytic work of Costanza, Fraser, Badger, Severt, and Gade (2012) underscores what should already be known from first principles; generation or cohorts are inevitably a poor predictor of anything. The literature on ingroup/outgroup bias (Hogg & Abrams, 1990), stereotype formation (Mackie, Hamilton, Susskind, & Rosselli, 1996), and reconstructive memory issues (Schacter, 1999) provides ample underlying evidence for how these generational overgeneralizations form.

scholarly journals Law and Organization: Presidential Address the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association

1915 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Bassett Moore
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Annual Meeting ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Presidential Address ◽  
American Political Science Association ◽  
The World ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Mind ◽  
American Political Science ◽  
Science Association

Webster, as a prelude to his reply to Hayne, asked for the reading of the resolution before the Senate, in order that the mind of his hearers might be led back to the original and perhaps forgotten subject of the debate. Today we may well imitate his example, by recurring to fundamental principles. For five months we have stood in the presence of one of the most appalling wars in history, appalling not only because of its magnitude and destructiveness but also because of its frustration of hopes widely cherished that the progress of civilization had rendered an armed conflict between the leading powers of the world morally impossible. As a result we have since the outbreak of the great conflict been tossing about on the stormy sea of controversy, distrustful of our charts and guides, and assailed on every hand with cries of doubt and despair. We have been told that there is no such thing as international law; that, even if its existence be admitted, it is at most nothing but what superior force for the time being ordains; that international understandings, even when embodied in treaties, are practically worthless, being obligatory only so long as they may be conceived to subserve the interests or necessities of the moment; that the only security for the observance of international rules, general or conventional, is force, and that in force we must in the last analysis find our sole reliance.

The rise and fall of Homo sapiens sapiens

1989 ◽  
Vol 325 (1228) ◽  
pp. 479-488 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Food ◽  
The World ◽  
Present Rate

Human beings have broken the ecological ‘law’ that says that big, predatory animals are rare. Two crucial innovations in particular have enabled us to alter the planet to suit ourselves and thus permit unparalleled expansion: speech (which implies instant transmission of an open-ended range of conscious thoughts) and agriculture (which causes the world to produce more human food than unaided nature would do). However, natural selection has not equipped us with a long-term sense of self-preservation. Our population cannot continue to expand at its present rate for much longer, and the examples of many other species suggests that expansion can end in catastrophic collapse. Survival beyond the next century in a tolerable state seems most unlikely unless all religions and economies begin to take account of the facts of biology. This, if it occurred, would be a step in cultural evolution that would compare in import with the birth of agriculture.

Prima Donna

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Wink
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Older Men ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
The World ◽  
Ambivalent Relationship ◽  
Shed Light

Prima Donna: The Psychology of Maria Callas explores the psychological mechanisms behind the hypnotic power of Callas’s artistry and her tragic life story. Advances in developmental psychology and the concept of narcissism are used to shed light on Callas’s puzzling personal deterioration during the last nine years of her life. Although precipitated by the trauma and shame over being abandoned by Aristotle Onassis and the precipitous deterioration of her voice, Callas midlife disintegration reflects deeper psychological vulnerabilities. Throughout her life, Callas’s lingering view that her career had been imposed upon her and that her mother compelled her to sing professionally led to her ambivalent relationship with the world of opera. Callas’s sense of superiority, derived from being celebrated for her special talent, coincided with feelings of vulnerability and inferiority embedded in her realization that she was celebrated not for her intrinsic worth but for her exceptional talent. Lacking a cohesive and integrated sense of self, she sought affirmation and vitality from merger with adoring audiences and older men, including her husband Battista Meneghini and her long-term partner Onassis. The propensity to fuse her identity with stage roles contributed to her artistic greatness, but envy and the lack of an intrinsic sense of meaning and worth enhanced her vulnerability to life’s vagaries.

scholarly journals Gobernanza, empatía y cuidado ambiental

2020 ◽  
pp. 7-21
Author(s):  
M. A. Nieves-Chávez ◽  
C. C., Hernández-Loredo
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Educational Intervention ◽  
The Other ◽  
Life Care ◽  
The World ◽  
Critical Model ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Didactic Strategies ◽  
The Mind

Background. Today's society is dissociated from its relationship with the world and nature. Individuals feel oblivious to their care, leading to the fragmentation of themselves and the reproduction of carelessness practices. Educationally it is necessary to contribute to the formation of conscious and committed individuals, able to engage with the other and the world around them, in a loving and empathetic way. Objective. For students to raise awareness of their involvement with the world, in order to promote recognition of their interconnection, and the need to become aware of themselves and their daily practices. Method. This work shows the results of a socio-educational intervention project. The didactic strategies were based on a critical model that divided the thoughtful and recreational process into four aspects: life-coexistence, empathy in everyday life, care marks and spiritual governance. Results. It was recognized the need to free up time to look at oneself, to be able to feel the world and to enjoy the moment, an aspect that required efforts to allay the mind. Participants referred that recognizing one's existence and inhabiting the moment required silence, to feel, and to be sensitive for the care. Conclusion. To achieve spiritual governance it’s seen the need to arouse involvement with the other, the sensitivity to see and hear the world and thus make decisions in interdependence.

Modeling and Assessing the National Strength of Russia

2020 ◽  
Vol 152 ◽  
pp. 6-19
Author(s):  
Valerii L. Makarov ◽  
◽  
Al’bert R. Bakhtizin ◽  
Nikolai I. Il’in ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
Military Power ◽  
The World ◽  
Socio Economic Development ◽  
National Power ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Integral Indicator

The article analyzes the world experience of assessing national strength, which is the most informative and popular indicator characterizing the combined national security potential of a particular country, allowing to compare the level of its military power and socio-economic development with other countries. Modeling and evaluating the national strength indicator is extremely important for adjusting strategic documents related to the long-term development of a country, as well as to its foreign policy. In many countries, the national security indicator is assessed by narrow circle of experts or through averaged survey results from a wider range of respondents. The disadvantage of this approach lies in subjectivity, and eventually, in an unreliable estimate. The authors provide a scientifically based methodology for modeling and assessing national power. In forming the components of the national strength integral indicator, key target indicators are used, which are established in the strategic planning documents of Russia. It should be also noted that they contain indicators that are not used by foreign researchers (for example, indicators related to the territory, population, industrial production, energy resources and many others). Results of calculating the integral indicators of national strength, obtained through convolution using factor analysis of group indices, show that at the moment Russia is a world leader (at the level of 3-4 places among 193 countries — members of the UN).

Metaphysics of movement

2021 ◽  
pp. 598-608
Author(s):  
Gr.G. Khubulava
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Human Life ◽  
History Of Philosophy ◽  
The Body ◽  
Bodily Movement ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Mind

Relevance. Movement surrounds and accompanies us everywhere: planets move, time, river waters, the life of cities is accompanied by traffic along highways. Our own life is also inseparable from the phenomenon of movement, both at the micro and macro levels: whether it be the movement and division of atoms of matter and cells of the body, the movement and interaction of our bodies in space, or the movement of a person towards a specific goal, conditioned by intention and expressed in actions, which in themselves are also a movement of the will. Purpose: to describe and evaluate the nature of the phenomenon of movement both in the history of philosophy (from Zeno to Descartes and Bergson) and in the history of medicine (from Aristotle and Celsus to modern mechanisms that give a person a chance to return the possibility of movement as an aspect of full life). Methods: the research method is not only the analysis of the development of the phenomenon of movement in the history of philosophy and science, but also the analysis of the influence of modern technologies on the very understanding of the nature of movement not as a physiological, but as an ontological phenomenon. Results. The ancient idea of movement as a deception of the senses, describing the closed on itself the existence of an objectively motionless space or being the source and cause of eternally arising and disintegrating existence, was an attempt by thinkers to “catch the mind on being”, not just creating a picture of a single cosmos, but also comprehending him as part of the human world. The bodily movement and structure of a person was understood as part of the visible and speculative structure of being. The thought of the Middle Ages, which understood movement as the path of the world and man to God, perceived the phenomenon of movement as an expression of free will and, at the same time, the desire of the world to its completion, which is at the same time the moment of its transformation. The Renaissance epoch, which proclaimed man as an end in itself for existence, closely links the physical movement of man with the movement of the cosmos, and considers the visible nature to be the source of knowledge of the Divine Will. The New Time, which theoretically separated the mechanics of the bodily and the impulses of the soul and mind and declared man a “biological machine”, in fact does not break the relationship between the movement of the soul and the body, but, demonstrating the difference in the nature of these movements, anticipated the discovery of psychosomatics. Finally, modern times not only created a classification of “body techniques” inherent in various stages of human life and groups of people, describing the socio-cultural aspect of corporeality, but also perceived movement as an act of our existence and involvement in the existence of the world. Conclusion. Movement cannot be understood as a purely physiological act. In the process of growth, becoming, having barely learned to walk, we are faced with the need to perform actions, to “behave”, to be like a personal I and as a part of the moving world that collided with us. A world in which every step is an event and deed capable of defining “the landscape of our personal and universal being”.

The transcendental turn

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Zahavi
Keyword(s):  
Transcendental Phenomenology ◽  
Descriptive Phenomenology ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Methodological Solipsism ◽  
The World ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Mind ◽  
First Time

Husserl’s turn from a descriptive phenomenology to a transcendental phenomenology is linked to his methodological employment of the reduction and the epoché. But how should one interpret these notions? Are they crucial to phenomenology, do they enable phenomenology to become metaphysically committed, or are they tools that reveal Husserl’s commitment to a form of methodological solipsism? Chapter 3 offers an interpretation of the reduction and the epoché that makes it clear why Husserl’s transcendental turn does not involve a turning-away from the world, but a suspension of a specific dogmatic attitude towards the world, that for the first time permits a proper understanding of the (constituted) being of the world. Contrary to various existing interpretations, it is consequently argued that whereas Husserl’s descriptive phenomenology was indeed metaphysically neutral, he started to engage with metaphysical questions concerning the mind-dependent character of the world the moment he effectuated his transcendental turn.

Nagel's Challenge and the Mind-Body Problem

Philosophy ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rom Harré
Keyword(s):  
Body Problem ◽  
Causal Power ◽  
Mental States ◽  
The World ◽  
Material State ◽  
Internal Relations ◽  
Brain States ◽  
Mind Body Problem ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Person Experience

Nagel has argued that the ‘mind-body’ problem, as traditionally conceived, is insoluble. His challenge to philosophers is to devise a metaphysical scheme that incorporates materialist concepts in describing first person experience and mentalistic concepts in describing third person experience, such that the internal relations between the concepts thereby constructed are necessary. Nagel's own suggestion, a scheme not unlike the ‘underlying process’ schemes of the physical sciences, seems to lead him towards a covert materialism. Progress can be made in meeting the challenge by tackling the problem first by taking the units in each ‘sphere’ to be brains and persons. I show that a metaphysics based on the metaphor of person defined tasks and materially defined tools does satisfy both Nagel's challenge conditions. To devise a scheme for qualia and brain-states I turn back to Locke's presentation of the primary/secondary quality distinction. This depends on the concept of a causal power, grounded in material states of the world. While this scheme is inadequate, a variation, based on Gibson's concept of an affordance, and drawing on Bohr's resolution of the seeming incompatibility between wave and particle ontologies for physics, is promising. The world, whatever it is, affords material states to our perceptual apparatus, and mental states to our proprioceptual apparatus. The mental states/brain states duality is not a duality of types of states, which might stand in causal relations to one another, but is a duality of means of access to two classes of affordances of whatever the world is. There is no mind-body problem in the traditional sense, namely ‘How could a material state cause or be caused by a mental state?’

Session Fifteen: Meaning and Purpose

2018 ◽  
pp. 104-110
Author(s):  
Tayyab Rashid ◽  
Martin Seligman
Keyword(s):  
Real Life ◽  
The Self ◽  
Positive Psychotherapy ◽  
Final Session ◽  
Sense Of Purpose ◽  
The World ◽  
Greater Good ◽  
Meaning And Purpose

This final session integrates the three phases of positive psychotherapy (PPT): the narrative of resilience (positive introduction), the hope of cultivating a better version of the self, and the aspiration of leaving a positive legacy. Meaning refers to a coherent understanding of the world that promotes the pursuit of long-term goals that provide a sense of purpose and fulfilment. Session Fifteen focuses on the search and pursuit of meaningful endeavors for the greater good, and the central PPT practice in this session is Positive Legacy. The chapter provides a list of readings, videos, and websites that relate to the Positive Legacy idea and offers two worksheets to practice the concepts learned in the chapter. The chapter also includes a real-life case study that illustrates Positive Legacy.

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