This volume provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the emerging concept of the evolution of consciousness. It presents an overarching model that moves us to a new level of meaning and understanding of our place in the world.
When Alice stepped through the looking-glass, she encountered a peculiar world where she meets animated chess pieces, characters from nursery rhymes, and talking animals. Everything there is inside out and upside down: so it is with consciousness. Reflecting on the inception of consciousness, it is natural to suppose that there are just two alternatives. Either consciousness appeared in living beings suddenly, like a light switch turning on, or it appeared gradually, like the biological development of life itself, through borderline cases which became the collective experience over time. For the former theory, consciousness is an on/off matter, but once it was there it became richer over time, like a beam of light becoming brighter and broader in its sweep. For the latter theory this is not the case, and there are shades of grey in how consciousness develops. Unfortunately, both alternatives face deep problems. The solution to these problems lies in the realization, strange as it may be, that a key element of consciousness itself was always here, as a fundamental feature of micro-reality. Varying conscious states were not, however: they appeared gradually. In Vagueness and the Evolution of Consciousness, Michael Tye addresses the questions that this raises. Where in the brain is consciousness located? How can consciousness be casually efficacious with respect to behaviour? What is the extent of consciousness in the animal world? How can all of this be so?
From the alpha to the omega, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin offers an evolution-of-consciousness paradigm of the universe and a triumphant vision of humankind and its future. Guided by a creative process that motivated Teilhard, Vincent Frank Bedogne aims to unite matter with consciousness, science with spirituality. He looks beyond Darwin and the big bang; beyond traditional ideas of God, religion, and the human role in existence. As he does, we realize that the universe is crossing the most profound threshold in its evolution since the dawn of reflective thought a thousand lifetimes ago; and, like the threshold to reflection, this blossom of transcendence is unfolding within us. The book philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin would have written had he lived another fifty years.
This volume is a newly revised and updated edition of Evolution and Consciousness (Brill, 2019) and provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the emerging concept of the evolution of consciousness. It presents an overarching model that moves us to a new level of meaning and understanding of our place in the world.
The Evolution of Consciousness brings together interdisciplinary insights from philosophy, neuroscience, psychology and cognitive science to explain consciousness in terms of the biological function that grounds it in the physical world. Drawing on the novel analogy of a house of cards, Paula Droege pieces together various conceptual questions and shows how they rest on each other to form a coherent, structured argument. She asserts that the mind is composed of unconscious sensory and cognitive representations, which become conscious when they are selected and coordinated into a representation of the present moment. This temporal representation theory deftly bridges the gap between mind and body by highlighting that physical systems are conscious when they can respond flexibly to actions in the present. With examples from evolution, animal cognition, introspection and the free will debate, this is a compelling and animated account of the possible explanations of consciousness, offering answers to the conceptual question of how consciousness can be considered a cognitive process.
In recent years, the relation between contemporary academic philosophy and evolutionary theory has become ever more active, multifaceted, and productive. The connection is a bustling two-way street. In one direction, philosophers of biology make significant contributions to theoretical discussions about the nature of evolution (such as "What is a species?"; "What is reproductive fitness?"; "Does selection operate primarily on genes?"; and "What is an evolutionary function?"). In the other direction, a broader group of philosophers appeal to Darwinian selection in an attempt to illuminate traditional philosophical puzzles (such as "How could a brain-state have representational content?"; "Are moral judgments justified?"; "Why do we enjoy fiction?"; and "Are humans invariably selfish?"). In grappling with these questions, this interdisciplinary collection includes cutting-edge examples from both directions of traffic. The thirty contributions, written exclusively for this volume, are divided into six sections: The Nature of Selection; Evolution and Information; Human Nature; Evolution and Mind; Evolution and Ethics; and Evolution, Aesthetics, and Art. Many of the contributing philosophers and psychologists are international leaders in their fields.
The two dominant theories of consciousness argue it appeared in living beings either suddenly, or gradually. Both theories face problems. The solution is the realization that a foundational consciousness was always here, yet varying conscious states were not, and appeared gradually. Michael Tye explores this idea and the key questions it raises.
Publisher: Mount San Antonio College/Philosophy Group
ISBN: 1565438825
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The new field of evolutionary philosophy, unlike its aborted predecessors of the past, is primarily concerned with understanding why Homo sapiens are philosophical in the first place. It is not focused on advocating some specific future reform, but rather in uncovering why humans are predisposed to ask so many questions which, at least at the present stage, cannot be answered. In other words, if evolution is about living long enough to transmit one's genetic code, how does philosophy help in our global struggle for existence? To answer that question and others branched with it, one has to deal with the most complex physical structure in the universe-the human brain. Because it is from this wonder tissue, what Patricia Churchland has aptly called "three pounds of glorious meat," that all of human thought, including our deep and ponderous musings, is built upon. Take away the human brain and you take away all of philosophy. Therefore, if we are to understand why philosophy arose in the first place, we have to begin with delving into the mystery on why consciousness itself arose. And to answer that question we first have to come to grips with Darwin's major contribution to evolutionary theory-natural selection. Why would nature select for awareness, especially the kind of self-conscious awareness endemic to human beings, when survival for almost all species is predicated upon unconscious instincts? What kind of advantage does self-reflective consciousness confer that would allow it to emerge and develop over time?
Contributors to this volume include Robert Bellah, Raimundo Panikkar, Susan Griffin, Robert C. Solomon, Hubert L. Dreyfus and Stuart D. Dreyfus, Francisco J. Varela, Steven Rockefeller, Bruce Wilshire, Huston Smith, Joanne Ciulla, Michael Murphy, Tyrone Cashman, Naomi Scheman, Don Hanlon Johnson, Robert A. McDermott, Roger Walsh, and David Appelbaum.
Beyond the Secret... Beyond the Power of Now... is the Science of Spirit...a Deeper look at life. Why are we here alive on planet earth trapped in a life of 9 to 5 wage slavery? "Science of Spirit: Lost Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth" shows that all life on planet earth and in the universe is based on an evolution of consciousness from the beginning of timethe Big Bang. It clarifies the connectedness of all life with Science and to Spirit through the understanding of world-old Hermetic Teachings in a balance of Reason and Faith. Consciousness is the very fabric that all form is made out of and is the ground of all beingness of life Consciousness and the energy that makes up matter are inextricably combined or linked, emerging in a sequence of events called occasions of experience that ultimately create our experiences in life and our reality. The universe isnt made of things or particles. Its a process. Its made up of events. The result of this evolution of consciousness is an Analogical Awareness of life living in the now moment of unlimited potentials for the growth of a new super-conscious species of humanity moving through an Omega Point in time between 2011-- 2013. These Hermetic Teachings were clarified for me through the teaching of Ramtha and his Ancient Gnostic School much of what I have learned in 20 years my philosophy of life has its foundation in Ramthas philosophy. Our accelerating consciousness is moving to a quantum existence of Spirit-in-Mass God Man realized alive with all the lower species of life specifically the Sheeple of Economic Western Society. The Science of Spirit is based on my personal experience... my research... and my understanding of the ancient philosophy that this work comes from... It uses from research the philosophy and experience of other very credible people that have studied different aspects of a Science of Spirit as a philosophy to live by... I use this eclectic approach to build an accurate model of reality based in consciousness that allows us to create our own reality once we rid ourselves of the illusions of society. This approach gives credibility to my overall viewpoint a modern interpretation of a very old philosophy and way of life... A Science of Spirit that is inherent in Mother Nature... It goes in-depth about understanding What Consciousness Is! - An Analogical State of Awareness that is continuously evolving faster and faster to the eternal Now Moment It uses the discovery of a new perspective of the Mayan Calendar that is supposed to end in a religious "Apocalypse at "The Omega Point" in time around 2012 as its foundational understanding of an "Evolution of Consciousness" on earth. This philosophy and research show an Evolution of Consciousness a rising of an Analogical Awareness of life revealing a Science to the nature of Spirit It explains from a new perspective, this battle between the "Forces of Good and Evil" at "The End of Time". This Ancient Science of Spirit philosophy explains how the primeval forces of life [Spirit] that are inherent in Mother Earth growing for 16.4 billion years are pitted against the "dogmatic, stagnant, god-fearing personalities," that runs the Engines of Commerce of our Global Society with their focus on monetary control of the people and the planet. This is a real life battle between evolving evolutionary beings against the "Anti-Christ Social Consciousness of The Multi-National Corporations. Religious dogmas talk about an "Apocalypse at the end of time" to help warn us of our impending doom the remarkable thing is that the word "Apocalypse" means the "lifting of a veil" or a disclosure to certain privileged persons of something hidden from the majority of humankind. I will show in this book that the "lifting of a veil" is a rising of consciousness that knows no fear of the unknown and clarifies ancient predictions of the end days and the real battle of Armageddon. This ancient "Science
