Showing titles in Consciousness & Thought

Ian Buruma explores the life and death of Baruch Spinoza, the Enlightenment thinker whose belief in freedom of thought and speech resonates in our own time

Philosophy - the term sounds fascinating, beautiful, somehow romantic and harmonious, and at the same time like great intellectual effort. Yet philosophy is actually neither particularly romantic nor particularly strenuous. It is true that one has to use one's brain, and perhaps some things exceed normal common sense, but basically philosophy only means to be interested in man and the world. The image one has in one's mind of ancient Greek philosophers strolling in their long robes in the Athenian sun while exchanging their thoughts may seem romantic, but they often dealt with serious topics.

From Shakespeare and Milton to Alan Moore and Douglas Adams, writers have striven to convey the enormity and wonder of our universe. In this enlightening three-part series, Robin Ince, aided by special guests including his fellow Infinite Monkey Cage presenter Brian Cox, appraises the great communicators past and present, who have captured our imagination and advanced our knowledge.

Can the mind undergo a radical revolution? How do you observe the world? What solves our human problem is observing the whole process of ourselves without judging, condemning, translating or rejecting—just to observe.

By the time you read this sentence, it has already become the past. Your brain is lying to you—and that lie keeps you alive. Every perception you experience, every movement you make, every intuition that guides your decisions is not a response to reality but a prediction about it. You are not seeing the present. You are seeing your brain's best guess about what the present should be.

Feeling stressed, anxious or burnt out? Sophrology is a transformative health-care philosophy that is designed to help people achieve a calm, alert mind in a relaxed body. Inspired by Eastern philosophies and classical relaxation techniques, sophrology will help you to become consciously, actively aware of yourself, how you feel, what you want and the environment around you.

There are eight billion people on this planet and the idea, or box of "NORMAL" that we try to live in is as varied as there are people. Who has the authority to tell us how to behave? It's not natural, it's not right, and it causes stress and illness for far too many humans. This book is a guide to finding freedom and understanding how to understand ourselves. It's a guide to becoming human being and enjoying life.

Is the tick a machine or a machine operator? Is it a mere object or a subject? With these questions, the pioneering biophilosopher Jakob von Uexküll embarks on a remarkable exploration of the unique social and physical environments that individual animal species, as well as individuals within species, build and inhabit.

Shaun Gallagher offers an account of psychopathologies as disorders of the self. The Self and its Disorders develops an interdisciplinary approach to an "integrative" perspective in psychiatry. In contrast to some integrative approaches that focus on narrow brain-based conceptions, or on symptomology, this book takes its bearings from embodied and enactive conceptions of human experience.

Ewolucja człowieka a w szczególności jego umysłu jest jedną z największych zagadek natury. Koncepcja inteligencji makiawelicznej wyjaśnia w jaki sposób złożoność życia społecznego doprowadziła do powstania tak złożonego mózgu jakim obecnie dysponujemy. Autor wyjaśnia pochodzenie inteligencji społecznej i politycznej. Pokazuje w jaki sposób teoria umysłu, czyli umiejętność przewidywania motywów działania innych osobników stymulowała rozwój naszej inteligencji, w jaki sposób wykształcała się w nas umiejętność obrony przedmakiawelicznymi zakusami innych.

The world is louder than ever. It's not just the noise in our ears, but also the noise on our screens and in our heads. 'Silence is golden,' the adage goes. But how do we find it in times like these? Justin Zorn and Leigh Marz take us on an unlikely journey exploring why silence is essential for physical health, mental clarity, professional fulfilment, nourishing relationships, ecological sustainability and vibrant community. 

Internationally acclaimed author of many best-selling titles including: The Stress First Aid Kit and Body Transformation Inside-Out.

Ez a könyv, illetve hangoskönyv arról szól, miféle speciális eszközöket fejlesztett még ki az ember ahhoz, hogy megismerje a világot és benne önmagát, és melyiknek mik a korlátai. Megismerhetjük például a mágia és a hit szerepét világunk megértésében, emellett hallhatunk még két olyan megismerési keretről is, amelyek a jövőben csatlakozhatnak ezekhez. A mesterséges intelligencia és a termékeny nemtudás mind más és más okból jönnek szóba.

U.G. Krishnamurti famously described enlightenment as a neurobiological state of being with no religious, psychological or mystical implications. He did not lecture, did not set up organizations, held no gatherings and professed to have no message for mankind. Known as the ‘anti-guru’, the...

Tackling a key theme each month, from Happiness and Health to Money and Politics, Everyday Stoicism guides you through the calendar year to build a toolkit of simple exercises and practical ideas for how to live these values every day. So, harness the collective wisdom of the ancient Stoic philosophers today and discover the joy of everyday stoicism.

How close are you to the edge? Closer than you think. Every human mind operates on a landscape of valleys and ridges. The valley is your sanity—the deep, stable equilibrium of a mind that can absorb the shocks of life and return to balance. But the valley is not permanent. It can be eroded by chronic stress, sleeplessness, isolation, and trauma, until the ridge between health and illness is so low that a single bad day can send the entire system over the edge.

Why do we believe more than we can prove? Why does memory deceive us? Why do the most sophisticated artificial intelligence systems "hallucinate" false information? In Homo Credens, Boris Kriger reveals a profound truth about the nature of complex minds: any sufficiently complex system—whether human brain, animal cognition, or artificial intelligence—must believe far more than it can verify. This is not a limitation to be overcome but an architecture to be understood.

In this first volume of his book series The Evolution of Meaning, Dempsey introduces a theory of meaning based in thermodynamics and information processing.

The theme of "initiation" appears in various relationships throughout this series of books. An initiation is an expansion of consciousness - a means of opening the mind and heart to a recognition of what already exists in reality. It is, therefore, a result of the ability to transcend those glamours and illusions which veil the truth and limit the consciousness. As a living process, initiation is experienced by all forms of life, large and small, from the universal to the particular.

Principia Ethica, written in 1903, was a groundbreaking work of moral philosophy. Its author, G.E. Moore, questioned a fundamental pillar of ethics—specifically, what the definition of "good" is. As influential now as it was in its own time-period, Principia Ethica represented an advance in human thinking and is a worthy work for current and future generations to study to gain a better understanding of values and ethics.