Brain World or Life World? Critique of Neuroconstructivism

2021 ◽  
pp. 144-156
Author(s):  
Thomas Fuchs

From a neuro-constructivistic point of view, the brain creates an internal simulation of the external world which appears as the phenomenal world in consciousness. This view presupposes in particular that the subjective body and the organic or objective body belong to two fundamentally different worlds, the mental and the physical. The spatiality of the subject-body must then be declared an illusion, for example by referring to dissociations of the subject- and object-body as in the rubber hand illusion or the phantom limb. However, this alleged virtuality of body experience can be refuted by the intersubjectivity of perception, which confirms the co-extensivity of subject-body and object-body. Subjectivity thus proves to be as embodied as it is spatially extended, that means, as bodily being-in-the-world.

2009 ◽  
pp. 131-141
Author(s):  
Simonetta Bonfiglio Senise

- The beginning of puberty, with its bodily changes, triggers the adolescence process of transformation of the self image and of the relationship with the figures of the internal and external world. Internal and external factors may increase the pressure and the experiences of breakdown in the continuity and linearity of growth. Those experiences may, on one hand, reactivate old traumatic experiences and, on the other, offer the opportunity to perceive the transformation and separation from the world and from the objects of infancy, that is, time passing, as something of unthinkable, dangerous and shocking. From this point of view, adolescence could become the time of trauma and represent the trauma of time. Trauma can be defined not only on the basis of the consequences that an event produces on psychic organization, because of its intensity, but also in relation to the environment, the fundamental function of which is, at the beginning of life, to protect and make bearable reality to a more mature Ego. Exposing the subject to a new state of dependence from the environment, adolescence highlights the failures and insufficiencies of early experiences


DIALOGO ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-200
Author(s):  
Tudor-Cosmin Ciocan ◽  
Any Docu Axelerad ◽  
Maria CIOCAN ◽  
Alina Zorina Stroe ◽  
Silviu Docu Axelerad ◽  
...  

Ancient beliefs such as astral projection, human possession, abduction and other similar are not only universal, taught by all religions, but also used as premises for core believes/expectations, such as after-life, eternal damnation, reincarnation, and many others. Transferring Consciousness to a Synthetic Body is also a feature of interest in our actual knowledge, both religious as for science. If immortality were an option, would you take it into consideration more seriously? Most people would probably dismiss the question since immortality isn’t a real deal to contract. But what if having eternal life was a possibility in today’s world? The possibility of the transfer of human consciousness to a synthetic body can soon become a reality, and it could help the world for the better. Thus, until recently, the subject was mostly proposed by religion(s) and saw as a spiritual [thus, not ‘materially real’ or ‘forthwith accomplishable’] proposal therefore not really fully engaged or trust if not a religious believer. Now, technology is evolving, and so are we. The world has come to a point where artificial intelligence is breaking the boundaries of our perception of human consciousness and intelligence. And with this so is our understanding about the ancient question ‘who are we?’ concerning consciousness and how this human feature sticks to our body or it can become an entity beyond the material flesh. Without being exhaustive with the theme's development [leaving enough room for further investigations], we would like to take it for a spin and see how and where the religious and neuroscience realms intersect with it for a global, perhaps holistic understanding. Developments in neurotechnology favor the brain to broaden its physical control further the restraints of the human body. Accordingly, it is achievable to both acquire and provide information from and to the brain and also to organize feedback processes in which a person's thoughts can influence the activity of a computer or reversely.


Bastina ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 95-109
Author(s):  
Đurđina Isić

The paper presents the results of research that included comparative study of the place and role of female characters in selected and representative comedies by Serbian comedigrapher Branislav Nušić (eng. MP, Suspicious person, Mrs Minister, Bereaved family, Dr, Deceased; srb. Narodni poslanik, Sumnjivo lice, Ožalošćena porodica, Dr, Pokojnik, Vlast) and Bulgarian comedigrapher Stefan Kostov (eng. Gold mine, Golemanov, Grasshoppers, Nameless comedy; blg. Zlamnama mina, Golemanov, Skakalci, Komediâ bez ime) in order to find similarities and differences in the process of comedigraphic shaping of female characters in the work of these two authors. The subject of the research was viewed primarily from a literary-theoretical point of view, and the dominant methods of study were comparative and analytical-synthetic. During the research, there was a differentiation of female characters in accordance with their motivational structures, psychological assemblies and the nature of the place and the role they play in the social environment in which they are located. Therefore, we can distinguish female characters who live in the province and who are fully representative of the small-town spirit, female characters who live in the capital and are a symbol of the modern age and female characters who dwell in the capital, but in fact, deeply down still carry a small-town view of the world. The structure of this paper is in line with this distinction. Conclusions made at the end of the study show that the representation of female characters in analyzed comedies of both comedigaphers is highly similar in its nature.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-120
Author(s):  
Sabrekova Maria S. ◽  

The article is devoted to the analysis of the scientific and philosophical thought development, which served as a challenge to the renewal of the content of environmental education at the beginning of the XXI century. The analysis of the stages of domestic environmental education development, its content from the point of view of reflection in it of relations between society and nature is carried out. A new stage in the environmental education development in the 21st century is associated with the spread of ideas of sustainable development, which determine the transformation of all spheres of human culture. The article provides examples of tasks that currently exist in the educational literature for one of the primary school subjects, and a variant of their change from the standpoint of environmental education in the interests of sustainable development is proposed. The modern literature on the methodology of teaching the subject “The World Around” in primary school is considered from the point of view of the representation of the content of environmental education in it. The author comes to the conclusion about the insufficiency of the natural science orientation of environmental education for the formation of students’ ideas about the environmental imperative – a key category for understanding the conditions for harmonizing nature, society and the world of things. Based on the analysis performed, a conclusion was made about the relevance of updating the content of school environmental education. It is substantiated that this will contribute to the achievement of its planned result – the formation of a modern ecological culture among students. Keywords: general education, environmental education, educational content, environmental imperative, environmental culture


Author(s):  
William P. Alston

The internalism–externalism distinction is usually applied to the epistemic justification of belief. The most common form of internalism (accessibility internalism) holds that only what the subject can easily become aware of (by reflection, for example) can have a bearing on justification. We may think of externalism as simply the denial of this constraint. The strong intuitive appeal of internalism is due to the sense that we should be able to determine whether we are justified in believing something just by carefully considering the question, without the need for any further investigation. Then there is the idea that we can successfully reply to sceptical doubts about the possibility of knowledge or justified beliefs only if we can determine the epistemic status of our beliefs without presupposing anything about which sceptical doubts could be raised – the external world for example. The main objections to internalism are: (1) It assumes an unrealistic confidence in the efficacy of armchair reflection, which is often not up to surveying our entire repertoire of beliefs and other possible grounds of belief and determining the extent to which they support a given belief. (2) If we confine ourselves to what we can ascertain on reflection, there is no guarantee that the beliefs that are thus approved as justified are likely to be true. And the truth-promoting character of justification is the main source of its value. Externalism lifts this accessibility constraint, but in its most general sense it embodies no particular positive view. The most common way of further specifying externalism is reliabilism, the view that a belief is justified if and only if it was produced and/or sustained by a reliable process, one that would produce mostly true beliefs in the long run. This is a form of externalism because whether a particular belief-forming process is reliable is not something we can ascertain just on reflection. The main objections to externalism draw on internalist intuitions: (1) If the world were governed by an evil demon who sees to it that our beliefs are generally false, even though we have the kind of bases for them we do in fact have, then our beliefs would still be justified, even though formed unreliably. (2) If a reliable clairvoyant (ones who ‘sees’ things at a great distance) forms beliefs on this basis without having any reason for thinking that they are reliably formed, those beliefs would not be justified, even though they pass the reliability test.


1967 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-76
Author(s):  
Edwin Jones

John Lingard (1771–1851) was the first English historian to attempt to look at the history of England in the sixteenth century from an international point of view. He was unconvinced by the story of the Reformation in England as found in the works of previous historians such as Burnet and Hume, and believed that new light needed to be thrown on the subject. One way of doing this was to look at English history from the outside, so to speak, and Lingard held it to be a duty of the historian ‘to contrast foreign with native authorities, to hold the balance between them with an equal hand, and, forgetting that he is an Englishman, to judge impartially as a citizen of the world’. In pursuit of this ideal Lingard can be said to have given a new dimension to the source materials for English history. As parish priest in the small village of Hornby, near Lancaster, Lingard had few opportunities for travel. But he made good use of his various friends and former pupils at Douai and Ushaw colleges who were settled now in various parts of Europe. It was with the help of these friends that Lingard made contacts with and gained valuable information from archives in France, Italy and Spain. We shall concern ourselves here only with the story of Lingard's contacts with the great Spanish State Archives at Simancas.


Author(s):  
A. Kadir Çüçen

The problem of traditional epistemology is the relation of subject to external world. The distinction between subject and object makes possible the distinction between the knower and what is known. Starting with Descartes, the subject is a thinking thing that is not extended, and the object is an extended thing which does not think. Heidegger rejects this distinction between subject and object by arguing that there is no subject distinct from the external world of things because Dasein is essentially Being-in-the-world. Heidegger challenges the Cartesian legacy in epistemology in two ways. First, there is the modern tendency toward subjectivism and individualism that started with Descartes' discovery of the 'cogito.' Second, there is the technological orientation of the modern world that originated in the Cartesian understanding of the mathematical and external physical world.


2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-123
Author(s):  
Valentin A. Bazhanov ◽  

An article by T. Rockmore, published in the journal “Epistemology and Philosophy of Science” in 2009 (Vol. XXII. No. 4, pp. 14‒29), claim that naturalism is by its nature an example of anti-Kantianism, for it treats philosophy as a continuation science and recognizes science as a legitimate source of knowledge, does not allow a priori, relies on an a posteriori approach, empiricism in the pre-Kantian sense, and insists on the possibility of revising the knowledge acquired. This article has a goal to show that T. Rockmore point of view should be revised due to the progress of modern cognitive research and, first of all, neuroscience, in which all the features of the naturalistic approach are implemented and in which the “Kantian program” of brain research is developed. In the context of this program, the existence on the ontological level (i.e., in the brain) of certain neural structures that make it possible and play a crucial role in the cognitive activity of a person is recognized. Those concepts that Kant treated as components of cognitive activity in modern neuroscience acquired ontological status in the form of the activity of certain neural structures, which turn out to be prerequisites and components of this activity. We claim that in the context of the Kantian research program in neuroscience, the metaphor “Kantian brain” naturally entered the vocabulary of neuroscientists, and certain specific operations and functions of the brain began to be associated with individual elements of Kant's ideas. It is in this context attempts are made to comprehend the mechanisms of the brain in the “stimulus – activity” mode, when an external effect leads to the excitation of certain neural structures. The brain is capable to anticipate the long-term results of certain actions of the subject. In the case of foresight, the brain generates “internal” models and uses for their correction external data that constantly provided from reality across the subject. At the same time, some kind of self-correcting mechanisms implements, which from a formal point of view described by the Bayes theorem, using a priori evaluations of upcoming events and changes in these evaluations as result of experience. Thus, naturalism and Kantianism understood in the context of the progress of modern science, despite T. Rockmore idea, are completely compatible.


Author(s):  
Татьяна Черкашина ◽  
Tatiana Cherkashina ◽  
Н. Новикова ◽  
N. Novikova ◽  
О. Трубина ◽  
...  

The article considers the conceptualization of the world from the point of view of its methodological paradigm assessment in the context of the globalizing world. A retrospective analysis of the relationship between language and human speech activity is given. The authors explain the role of language as a socio-cultural phenomenon in the formation of worldview systems that develop in the consciousness with the help of minimal units of human experience in their ideal meaningful representation in special concepts, which allows the individual to think within the boundaries of a certain linguistic picture of the world. Analyzes the problems of the functioning of communicative norms with regard to the hierarchy of the spiritual representations of the world. The article attempts to consider the impact of the “blurring” of the information boundaries of the globalizing world on the cognitive abilities of the individual in the nomination, qualification of the subject, phenomenon, process.


Author(s):  
Peder Christian Kjerschow

In this essay I am aiming to sketch a context of my view of music, taking the form of a musically-inspired Weltanschauung [world view]. Confronted with “great” music of all types, I experience the particular ability of music to bring consciousness into a state of listening, attentive “passivity”, without the need for an explanation of what it is about. Afterwards, the thinking consciousness may rise to active reflection on the unique potential of meaning in music – so unlike anything else – and on the equally enigmatic resonant disposition in me that responds to music as an essential meaningful appeal. Although music has all the characteristics of its human origin and historical context, it may be considered as a spring welling from the very source of the world: Its potential of meaning is rooted deeper than human culture. Thus, music offers a confrontation with objective reality, not with something “staged” by our consciousness or, not to mention, by our brain. This musical confrontation with reality has led to my questioning the subjectivism of Kant and especially Fichte, and to an interest in Schelling’s philosophy of nature as a convincing refutation of subjectivistic epistemology. In the name of reality, I touch on the problematic interpretations and conclusions of neuroscience and brain research concerning self-perception. This sort of “philosophy”, where the very self (i.e. the “I” or the subject) is identified with the object studied, i.e. the brain itself. This view may also imply a reductionistic understanding of the experience of meaningful music as “staged” by the reward system of the brain.


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