What it is like to be a bit: an integrated information decomposition account of emergent mental phenomena

A central question in neuroscience concerns the relationship between consciousness and its physical substrate. Here, we argue that a richer characterization of consciousness can be obtained by viewing it as constituted of distinct information-theoretic elements. In other words, we propose a shift from quantification of consciousness—viewed as integrated information—to its decomposition. Through this approach, termed Integrated Information Decomposition (ΦID), we lay out a formal argument that whether the consciousness of a given system is an emergent phenomenon depends on its information-theoretic composition—providing a principled answer to the long-standing dispute on the relationship between consciousness and emergence. Furthermore, we show that two organisms may attain the same amount of integrated information, yet differ in their information-theoretic composition. Building on ΦID’s revised understanding of integrated information, termed ΦR, we also introduce the notion of ΦR-ing ratio to quantify how efficiently an entity uses information for conscious processing. A combination of ΦR and ΦR-ing ratio may provide an important way to compare the neural basis of different aspects of consciousness. Decomposition of consciousness enables us to identify qualitatively different ‘modes of consciousness’, establishing a common space for mapping the phenomenology of different conscious states. We outline both theoretical and empirical avenues to carry out such mapping between phenomenology and information-theoretic modes, starting from a central feature of everyday consciousness: selfhood. Overall, ΦID yields rich new ways to explore the relationship between information, consciousness, and its emergence from neural dynamics.

Formal Argument and Olympiodorus’ Development as a Plato-Commentator

Olympiodorus led the Platonist school of philosophy at Alexandria for several decades in the sixth century, and both Platonic and Aristotelian commentaries ascribed to him survive. During this time the school’s attitude to the teaching of Aristotelian syllogistic, originally owing something to Ammonius, changed markedly, with an early tendency to reinforce the teaching of syllogistic even in Platonist lectures giving way to a greater awareness of its limitations. The vocabulary for arguments and their construction becomes far commoner than the language of syllogistic and syllogistic figures, and also of demonstration. I discuss the value of these changes for the dating of certain works, especially where the text lectured on does not demand different emphases. The commitment to argument rather than to authority continues, but a greater emphasis eventually falls on the establishment of the premises than on formal validity.

What it is like to be a bit: An Integrated Information Decomposition account of emergent mental phenomena

A central question in neuroscience concerns the relationship between consciousness and its physical substrate. Here, we argue that a richer characterisation of consciousness can be obtained by viewing it not as a monolithic construct, but rather as constituted of distinct information-theoretic elements. In other words, we propose a shift from quantification of consciousness - viewed as integrated information - to its decomposition. Through this approach, termed Integrated Information Decomposition (ΦID), we lay out a formal argument that whether the consciousness of a given system is an emergent phenomenon depends on its information-theoretic composition - thus providing a principled answer to the long-standing dispute on the relationship between consciousness and emergence. Furthermore, we show that two organisms may attain the same amount of integrated information, yet differ in its information-theoretic composition. Building on ΦID’s revised understanding of integrated information, termed ΦR, we also introduce the notion of ΦR-ing rate to quantify how efficiently an entity uses information for conscious processing. A combination of ΦR and ΦR-ing rate may provide an important way to compare the neural basis of different aspects of consciousness. Thus, decomposition of consciousness enables us to identify qualitatively different ‘modes of consciousness,’ which establish a common space for mapping the phenomenology of different conscious states. We outline both theoretical and empirical avenues to carry out such mapping between phenomenology and information-theoretic modes, starting from a central feature of everyday consciousness: selfhood. Overall, Integrated Information Decomposition yields rich new ways to explore the relationship between information, consciousness, and its emergence from neural dynamics.

HISTORIOSOPHICAL PREREQUISITES FOR THE FORMATION OF THE CULT OF PERSONALITY IN THE BIOGRAPHIES OF V.I. LENIN 1924–1956

The authors make an attempt to analyse on the basis of Hayden White’s theory of historical narrative historiosophical prerequisites for the formation of the cult of personality in the soviet biographies of V.I. Lenin published in 1924–1956. The basis of texts is a plot structure, implying, on the one hand, the existence of immutable laws of historical development, which humanity is forced to obey, and, on the other, a person who is able to learn them through the bitterness of defeats and put them at his service. The explanation of the facts of the historical narrative takes place by using two types of formal argument: Mechanism, which emphasizes the laws of historical development and the role of the masses in the historical process, and organicism, which gives high priority to V.I. Lenin himself and the party he created. The authors conclude that the articulation of the plot structure and types of formal argument embodied in the biographies becomes a prerequisite for the formation of the cult of personality. The latter implies the construction of an image of a person capable of transforming the reality, according to the concept of historical development that dominates in the party political historiography

A Short-Patterning of the Texts Attributed to Al Ghazali: A “Twitter Look” at the Problem

This article presents an novel approach inspired by the modern exploration of short texts’ patterning to creations prescribed to the outstanding Islamic jurist, theologian, and mystical thinker Abu Hamid Al Ghazali. We treat the task with the general authorship attribution problematics and employ a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), intended in combination with a balancing procedure to recognize short, concise templates in manuscripts. The proposed system suggests new attitudes make it possible to investigate medieval Arabic documents from a novel computational perspective. An evaluation of the results on a previously tagged collection of books ascribed to Al Ghazali demonstrates the method’s high reliability in recognizing the source authorship. Evaluations of two famous manuscripts, Mishakat al-Anwa and Tahafut al-Falasifa, questioningly attributed to Al Ghazali or co-authored by him, exhibit a significant difference in their overall stylistic style with one inherently assigned to Al Ghazali. This fact can serve as a substantial formal argument in the long-standing dispute about these manuscripts’ authorship. The proposed methodology suggests a new look on the perusal of medieval documents’ inner structures and possible authorship from the short-patterning and signal processing perspectives.

Citizenship goes to the dogs

The conclusion I defend is that "domestic animals" have a moral claim to what I refer to as "basic citizenship rights," and that they do so for the same reason that "non-autonomous humans" do. I define each of these key terms. The bulk of this dissertation is structured around the following formal argument, which I refer to as the Political AMC, on account of its strategy being borrowed from the so-called Argument from Marginal Cases, or AMC: (P1) Non-rationally autonomous humans have an undefeated moral claim to basic citizenship rights. (P2) If non-rationally autonomous humans have an undefeated moral claim to basic citizenship rights, then possessing vulnerability and no decisive defeaters is a sufficient condition for having an undefeated claim to basic citizenship rights. (C1) Possessing vulnerability and no decisive defeaters is a sufficient condition for having a claim to basic citizenship rights. (P3) Domestic animals possess vulnerability and no decisive defeaters. (C2) Domestic animals have an undefeated claim to basic citizenship rights. The defense offered for Premise 2 is abductive--an inference to the best explanation-- and treated accordingly

Original Sin, the Fall, and Epistemic Self-Trust

In this paper, I argue that no strong doctrine of the Fall can undermine the propriety of epistemic self-trust. My argument proceeds by introducing a common type of philosophical methodology, known as reflective equilibrium. After a brief exposition of the method, I introduce a puzzle for someone engaged in the project of self-reflection after gaining a reason to distrust their epistemic selves on the basis of a construal of a doctrine of the Fall. I close by introducing the worry as a formal argument and demonstrate the self-undermining nature of such an argument.

SUSTAINABILITY NARROWNESS

We study the resilience of a multiplex socio-ecological system (SES) which we structure from the spheres composing the sustainability Venn diagram. The SES network is subject to dynamics of spread of a global reform through a knock-on effect, as a direct and indirect repercussion of a small-scale reform process that spreads out over time through network connectivity. The model outcomes reveal that high probability of reform completion on an SES layer through nodes previously reformed on other SES layers is necessary and sufficient to propagate the desired reform on that layer. The maximum asymptotic density of reformed nodes can only be achieved in the absence of risk of reform abrogation. When the risk is significant, it prevents the equilibrium density from reaching a steady state. The numerical simulation results show that the combination of likely probability of reform completion and of proportional influence of all layers yields the maximum magnitude of efficiency of the knock-on effect. We provide a formal argument that favors assigning equal weight to all aspects of sustainable development.

The Political Violence Cycle

Elections are often violent affairs, casting doubt on the canonical claim that democracy makes societies more peaceful by creating nonviolent means to contest for power. We develop a formal argument to demonstrate that this conclusion is incorrect. Holding elections has a direct effect of increasing levels of violence close to the voting, as this is when electoral violence can influence political outcomes. Precisely for this reason, elections also have an indirect effect of decreasing levels of violence at all other times, as parties can wait for the election when their efforts are more likely to succeed. The direct and indirect effects generate a “political violence cycle” that peaks at the election. However, when the indirect effect is larger, politics would be more violent without elections. When elections also provide an effective nonviolent means to contest for power, they unambiguously make society more peaceful while still generating a political violence cycle.