Dynamical agents: Consciousness, causation, and two specters of epiphenomenalism

The aim of this paper is to defend the causal efficacy of consciousness against two specters of epiphenomenalism. We argue that these challenges are best met, on the one hand, by rejecting all forms of consciousness-body dualism, and on the other, by adopting a dynamical systems approach to understanding the causal efficacy of conscious experience. We argue that this non-reductive identity theory provides the theoretical resources for reconciling the reality and efficacy of consciousness with the neurophysiology of the brain and body.

Willusionism,epiphenomenalism, and the feeling of conscious will

While epiphenomenalism—i.e., the claim that the mental is a causally otiose byproduct of physical processes that does not itself cause anything—is hardly ever mentioned in philosophical discussions of free will, it has recently come to play a crucial role in the scientific attack on free will led by neuroscientists and psychologists. This paper is concerned with the connection between epiphenomenalism and the claim that free will is an illusion, in particular with the connection between epiphenomenalism and willusionism, i.e., with the thesis that there is empirical evidence for a thoroughgoing skepticism with regard to free will that is based on the claim that mental states are epiphenomena. The paper discusses four arguments for willusionism that in some form or other appeal to epiphenomenalism and argues that three of them can be discarded relatively easily. The fourth one, based on Daniel Wegner’s theory of apparent mental causation and his claim that free will is an illusion because the feeling of conscious will is epiphenomenal with regard to the corresponding voluntary actions, is dealt with in more detail. The overall verdict is negative: there is no empirical evidence for any kind of epiphenomenalism that would warrant the claim that free will is an illusion. Whatever it is that makes free will the object of contention between neuroscience and philosophy, epiphenomenalism provides no reason to think that free will is an illusion.     

An incomplete gallery: machines, cognition, and nonlinearities

In this communication, some issues related to the old but still open question, on how far the development of cognitive processing in artificial machines can go, are discussed. A selected gallery of images derived from laboratory experiments are presented. The incompleteness of the gallery is as that in the definition of what we mean as cognitive processing.     

An incomplete gallery: machines,cognition, and nonlinearities

In this communication, some issues related to the old but still open question, on how far the development of cognitive processing in artificial machines can go, are discussed. A selected gallery of images derived from laboratory experiments are presented. The incompleteness of the gallery is as that in the definition of what we mean as cognitive processing.     

Conscious machines: Memory,melody and muscular imagination

A great deal of effort has been, and continues to be, devoted to developing consciousness artificially (A small selection of the many authors writing in this area includes: Cotterill (J Conscious Stud 2:290–311, 1995, 1998), Haikonen (2003), Aleksander and Dunmall (J Conscious Stud 10:7–18, 2003), Sloman (2004, 2005), Aleksander (2005), Holland and Knight (2006), and Chella and Manzotti (2007)), and yet a similar amount of effort has gone in to demonstrating the infeasibility of the whole enterprise (Most notably: Dreyfus (1972/1979, 1992, 1998), Searle (1980), Harnad (J Conscious Stud 10:67–75, 2003), and Sternberg (2007), but there are a great many others). My concern in this paper is to steer some navigable channel between the two positions, laying out the necessary pre-conditions for consciousness in an artificial system, and concentrating on what needs to hold for the system to perform as a human being or other phenomenally conscious agent in an intersubjectively-demanding social and moral environment. By adopting a thick notion of embodiment—one that is bound up with the concepts of the lived body and autopoiesis (Maturana and Varela 1980; Varela et al. 2003; and Ziemke 2003, 2007a, J Conscious Stud 14(7):167–179, 2007b)—I will argue that machine phenomenology is only possible within an embodied distributed system that possesses a richly affective musculature and a nervous system such that it can, through action and repetition, develop its tactile-kinaesthetic memory, individual kinaesthetic melodies pertaining to habitual practices, and an anticipatory enactive kinaesthetic imagination. Without these capacities the system would remain unconscious, unaware of itself embodied within a world. Finally, and following on from Damasio’s (1991, 1994, 1999, 2003) claims for the necessity of pre-reflective conscious, emotional, bodily responses for the development of an organism’s core and extended consciousness, I will argue that without these capacities any agent would be incapable of developing the sorts of somatic markers or saliency tags that enable affective reactions, and which are indispensable for effective decision-making and subsequent survival. My position, as presented here, remains agnostic about whether or not the creation of artificial consciousness is an attainable goal.     

Medicine in Between: Thomas Wolfe,Spirituality, and the Meaning of Life

Journal of Religion and Health - Questions of meaning may seem more properly suited to the spheres of religion or philosophy; yet physicians certainly witness some of the greatest sufferings of...     

Coercion,Care, and Corporations: Omissions and Commissions in Thomas Pogge's Political Philosophy

This article argues that Thomas Pogge's important theory of global justice does not adequately appreciate the relation between interactional and institutional accounts of human rights, along with the important normative role of care and solidarity in the context of globalization. It also suggests that more attention needs to be given critically to the actions of global corporations and positively to introducing democratic accountability into the institutions of global governance. The article goes on to present an alternative approach to global justice based on a more robust conception of human rights grounded in a conception of equal positive freedom, in which these rights are seen to apply beyond the coercive political institutions to which Pogge primarily confines them (e.g. to prohibiting domestic violence), and in which they can guide the development of economic, social and political forms to enable their fulfillment.     

Religious Environmentalism: Thomas Berry,the Bishnoi,and Satish Kumar

Abstract : This article explores two thinkers and one movement involved with religious environmentalism. Thomas Berry drew from the world's religious traditions and a depth study of science to develop what he refers to as “The New Story,” a narrative that encourages the cultivation of intimacy with nature, leading to an appropriate ethical response. The Bishnoi movement, which originated in fifteenth‐century India, sets forth a pre‐modern paradigm, still widely observed in northern India, for dealing with threats to local eco‐systems. Satish Kumar, a former monk and post‐Gandhian activist, invokes the ideas and practices of Jainism in developing an environmental action plan. These examples demonstrate the interdisciplinary and cross‐cultural aspects of religious environmentalism.     

Profit and Piety: Thomas More,John Colet,and the London Mercery

Abstract

This study offers a new comparison between Thomas More's and John Colet's ideology concerning wealth and property and their activities with the Mercers’ Company, in order to demonstrate their humanist aims of bringing virtue (pietas) and learning to society partly by means of business. It is argued that, as in the wider Church, there was a reciprocal relationship between profit and piety in the life and works of the two humanists, despite their apparent dismissive attitudes to money in their writings. As a result of their work, not only did the Mercers benefit from the two men's skills, but London gained a new school, the re-foundation of the Guild of the Holy Name of Jesus and the improvement of the hospital of St. Thomas of Acre along with More's legal and diplomatic services, which improved international trade relations, especially with the Low Countries. Their humanist philanthropy exhibited the active side of their devotional lives in their educational aims, civic service and social reform.     

托马斯伦理学中的柏拉图主义因素--论托马斯对synderesis与conscientia的区分

托马斯伦理学总体上看虽然主要源于亚里士多德,但这并不排除它在个别理论问题上有其他理论渊源.据此笔者认为,托马斯伦理学中也不乏柏拉图主义因素.本文一方面试图厘清托马斯对于synderesis与conscientia所作的区分,另一方面深人审视这种区分的历史渊源,以期从一个侧面把托马斯伦理学中的柏拉图主义因素彰显出来.     

Thomas M. Magoon: Innovation,Renewal, Making a Difference

Thomas M. Magoon's 30 years of service and professional values are discussed in this interview from three overlapping perspectives: personal, professional, and familial. Magoon is a pioneer in that he has demonstrated professional innovation, mentoring, and service with conviction, action, and special caring.     

Fallacies in memory for conversations: Reflections on Clarence Thomas,Anita Hill,and the Like

This study examines conditions that relate to fallacies in memory for conversations. This research tests a cognitive interpretation for why a conversation might be vividly memorable to one eyewitness but not to another. Specifically, a test of gist and verbatim memory for sexual versus non sexual material is presented. In addition, the relative memorability of sexual versus non sexual mateial is tested as a function of the consistency of the context in which it is presented. In two experiments participants heard a recorded conversation between a man and a woman that included four sexual and four non sexual target sentences. The conversation was framed as having been recorded in either a singles bar (the consistent context) or an office setting (the inconsistent context). Sexual items were recalled and recognized better than non sexual items, on both gist and verbatim memory tasks, and the difference in gist (but not verbatim) memory between sexual and non sexual items was greater in the inconsistent than in the consistent context. The discussion considers how this pattern of results might illuminate slippages in memory that may have occured during the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearing (U. S. Supreme Court appointment review; October 1991) as well as memory slippages more generally.