The most neglected sector of Kant's Critical Philosophy is his collec tion of remarks about biological phenomena in the second part of the Critique of Judgment, the Critique of Teleological Judgment. The reasons for this are numerous, but since in Kant, everything comes in threes, a three-fold collection will suffice. The Critique of Teleological Judgment itself is one reason. More than most of his writings, this segment of the Critical corpus suffers from what can most charitably be termed "mistakes of (...) exposition. " In this part of the third Critique, it is commonplace to find sub-arguments in Kant's general position somewhere other than their logical niche. The result is that the general theme behind his remarks about living phenomena is obscured. This difficulty has done much to discourage even the most enthusiastic of Kant admirers from investing their time on this work. Secondly, in this century, until very recently, there has been little interest in philosophical questions about biology. Twenty-one out of thirty-one sections of the Critique of Teleological Judgment (sections #61 and 63-83) deal either directly or indirectly with issues of interest in the philosophy of biology. Finally, the Critique of Teleological Judgment has been placed among the last on that list "of writings thought to formulate Kant's Critical system. This is not merely because of its temporal position. (shrink)

Ramon Harvey revisits the Muslim theologian Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī (d. 333/944) from Samarqand and puts his system, and that of the Māturīdī school, into lively dialogue with modern thought. -/- Combining rigorous study of Arabic Māturīdī texts with insights from Husserl’s phenomenology and analytic theology, Harvey explores themes from epistemology and metaphysics to the nature of God and specific divine attributes (omniscience and wisdom, creative action, divine speech and the Qur’an). His systematic treatment of these topics shows that a contemporary (...) Islamic philosophical theology, or kalām jadīd, can be true to the past, yet dynamic in the present, and can provide original and constructive answers to perennial theological questions. (shrink)

Where does consciousness come from? For most scientists and laypeople, it is axiomatic that something in the substance of the brain - neurons, synapses and grey matter in just the right combination - create perception, self-awareness, and intentionality. Yet despite decades of neurological research, that ""something"" - the mechanism by which this process is said to occur - has remained frustratingly elusive. This is no accident, as the authors of this book argue, given that the evidence increasingly points to a (...) startling fact: consciousness may not, in fact, reside in the brain at all. In this wide-ranging and deeply scientific book, Imants Baruss and Julia Mossbridge utilise findings from special relativity and quantum mechanics, modern and ancient philosophers, and paranormal psychology to build a rigorous, detailed investigation into the origins and nature of human consciousness. Along the way, they examine the scientific literature on concepts including mediumship, out-of-body and near-death experiences, telekinesis, ""apparent"" versus ""deep time,"" and mind-to-mind communication, and introduce eye-opening ideas about our shared reality. The result is a revelatory tour of the ""post-materialist"" world, and a roadmap for consciousness research in the twenty-first century. (shrink)

Aesthetic transfiguration, as described by Nietzsche, is the capacity of art to alchemize the meaningless sufferings of natural existence into the aesthetically magnificent struggle that is human ‘life’. Like Nietzsche, Schopenhauer assessed ‘art from the perspective of life’. As Schopenhauer is standardly read, however, his conception of aesthetic experience has little in common with that offered by Nietzsche. Against the standard reading, this chapter argues that Nietzsche’s psychology of aesthetic experience—and in particular his idea that aesthetic transfiguration invests human experience (...) with positive value—is essentially an elaboration of insights owed to Schopenhauer. (shrink)

Psychedelics are known to elicit intense and meaningful subjective experiences. These subjective experiences are supposed to play a major role in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. However, not much attention has been paid to the role played by emotions in these experiences. In this paper, we argue that typical psychedelic-induced experiences share many phenomenological features with two emotions: awe (which involves a reduced sense of the self, need for cognitive accommodation, and alterations of temporal perception) and being moved (which involve feelings of insight, (...) meaningfulness, and connectedness). On the basis of this comparison, we argue that these two emotions might play an important role in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and put forward a two-process model of the role of emotions in psychedelic-assisted therapy. Based on this model, we propose several testable hypotheses that can be derived from this model. (shrink)

In the famous Appendix to paragraphs 11 and 20 of his 5th Logical Investigation, Husserl criticizes the concept of ‘immanent object’ defended by Brentano and his pupils. Husserl holds that intentional objects, even non-existent ones, are ‘transcendent’. Yet long before Husserl’s criticism, Brentano and his pupils, in their theories of intentionality, besides immanent objects also took into account transcendent ones, in a similar way to Husserl, since such transcendent objects were not necessarily objects that exist. The ‘immanent (...) object’ (immanenter Gegenstand) was also called ‘presented-thing as presented’ (Vorgestelltes als Vorgestelltes), whereas the ‘transcendent object’ was called ‘object tout court’ (Gegenstand schlechtweg) or ‘presented-thing tout court’ (Vorgestelltes schlechtweg). Even if it is in Marty that one finds the clearest distinction between these two kinds of objects, other pupils of Brentano, and Brentano himself, made similar distinctions. Despite its importance, this point has been neglected in the Brentanian literature. In the first part of this article, I present the way in which immanent and transcendent objects have been distinguished in the School of Brentano. In the second part of the article, I present some problems linked to the distinction of two objects for every mental act, an immanent and a transcendent one; these problems could explain the abandonment of the notion of ‘immanent object’ by many philosophers of the Brentanian tradition. I conclude with some remarks on the distinction between content and object in the School of Brentano. (shrink)

In this essay, I argue that Hegel's Absolute must be understood to be transcendent in the sense of being both immanent within the world and exceeding it. This account of transcendence invariably turns on Hegel's inheritance of the Christian tradition and, in particular, the metaphysics espoused through Christian Platonism. To support my argument I will examine the methodological immanentism of Hegel's phenomenology to show that such immanentism, while demanded by any phenomenology, is not necessarily imported into his metaphysics. I (...) will then examine Hegel's Logic to show that the dialectic which his thought relies upon compels the finite subject to recognise that all finite things, including themselves, are grounded within the Absolute Idea. I will then examine whether we must understand the Absolute Idea as immanent or whether there is room to conceive of it as transcendent. I conclude the essay by showing that the sense of transcendence as found within Nicene Christianity provides an understanding of transcendence that is not only compatible with Hegel's thought but actually allows us to make better sense of his system than the immanentist interpretation of it. (shrink)

The purpose of this article is to retrieve the work presented in on the transcendent function and complexes as well as an ontological interpretation of Jung’s work on the Rosarium Philosophorum to project a new meaning of the phenomenology and ontology of the transcendent function. This article enables complexes and the Rosarium Philosophorum to be understood in connection to the ontology of the transcendent function that was presented in. This article can hermeneutically retrieve the transcendent function (...) because when complexes and the Rosarium Philosophorum are explained ontologically they unconceal new possibilities that were not available in. By retrieving the transcendent function in this way, this article will explain more detail of the phenomenological and ontological meaning of the transcendent function which will include complexes and the Rosarium Philosophorum. (shrink)

Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, EarlyView.

Building on observed similarities in uniqueness proofs for the empty set and the Necessary Existent (Wājib al-Wujūd), this study engages the meta-methodological issue of cross-system commensurability. It identifies four instances of structural commensurability between Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory with Choice (ZFC) and Mulla Sadra's Transcendent Wisdom (Ḥikmat al-Muta'āliyah). First, identity principles: the Axiom of Extensionality provides a formal operational criterion analogous to the philosophical principle of identity through absence of distinguishing features. Second, multiplicity mechanisms: ZFC's constructor axioms (bottom-up construction) and (...) emanation principles (top-down explanation) address analogous problems with inverse orientations. Third, transcending limitation: the Axiom of Infinity ensuring quantitative extensional infinity addresses a problem formally parallel to (though ontologically distinct from) principles of gradation and nobler possibility demonstrating qualitative intensive perfection. Fourth, foundation principles: the Axiom of Regularity and impossibility of infinite regress both prohibit vicious circularity and guarantee well-foundedness through comparable logical patterns. The results suggest constraints on rational frameworks: while ZFC and Transcendent Wisdom are ontologically distinct, this analysis demonstrates they are relatively commensurable regarding their problem-solving strategies for universal challenges (identity, multiplicity, infinity, foundation), despite radical differences in content and epistemological status. (shrink)

One of Nietzsche’s central contentions regarding the practical-existential import of art relates to his idea of aesthetic _transfiguration_, the capacity of art to to alchemize the meaningless sufferings of mere natural ‘existence’ into the aesthetically magnificent struggle that is human ‘life’. Like Nietzsche, Schopenhauer assessed ‘art from the perspective of life’. As Schopenhauer is standardly read, however, his conception of aesthetic experience has little in common with that offered by Nietzsche. Against the standard reading, this chapter argues, Nietzsche’s phenomenology of (...) aesthetic experience—and in particular his idea that aesthetic transfiguration can invest human experience with positive value—is essentially continuous with Schopenhauer’s own. (shrink)

This article addresses two key – ultimately connected – themes. The first concerns the question of whether gratitude as a response to human or divine benefaction of theologically, normatively, or affectively higher conception may be usefully regarded as continuous with or emergent from more basic and/or instrumental modes of natural human or non-human association and transaction of evolutionary or other natural (empirical) conditioning. The second is that of the limits of meaningful or intelligible human gratitude: In particular, of whether any (...) idea of so-called existential or ontological gratitude or general thanks or appreciation – towards some divine creator or otherwise – makes much coherent sense. This article returns a generally negative response to both of these questions. While evolutionary or other empirical scientific accounts of human nature must fall short of accounting for the distinctive nature of human personhood in default of which such complex notions as love, benevolence, and gratitude can make little real sense, there can be no meaningful gratitude for life or existence above and beyond particular appreciation or thanks for the actual substantial benefits or favors of that life. (shrink)

Moses transmits to Israel the call of a God of incomparable power, and his intimate access to that power without being destroyed by it makes him not only mediator but model for the formation of a people set apart, holy to Yahweh.

The demonstration of the absolute simplicity and real oneness of the Necessary Being, on the one hand, and the presentation of an explanation for the possible beings that are consistent with this oneness are among the most important challenges that Islamic philosophy has to deal with. By restricting the reality of being to the Essence of the Necessary, gnostics have solved this problem successfully; however, philosophers' confirmations of an independent and original existence for possible beings based on the principles of (...) causality is inconsistent with the absolute simplicity of the Necessary. All the efforts of Muslim philosophers for solving this problem were unsuccessful until Mulla Sadra's time. By posing the philosophical principle of 'the Truth in its simplicity contains all things', he solved this riddle and demonstrated the individual oneness of being in the light of a new explanation of the principle of causality. In this way, he paved the way for philosophy to have access to the individual oneness of being. This paper aims to explain Mulla Sadra's significant efforts in this regard. (shrink)

In this article, the author attempts to explain, the occurrence of Husserl and Heidegger's phenomenological interpretation of phenomenology there is a fundamental similarity. I have taken the approach is to analyze the phenomenology of Husserl and Heidegger's interpretation of the occurrence of the phenomenon of learning among the "place" concept. The author describes the place as a transcendental phenomenology of Husserl's main themes occur, and occur as the body phenomenology of Heidegger's interpretation of the main issues between the two fundamentally (...) identical. As between the two identical, Husserl's transcendental subjectivity as the transcendental place of the load are, in Heidegger's place as a body load there who have basically similar. Furthermore, Husserl and Heidegger on the concept of the world the concept of the transcendental field, as well as Husserl's "consciousness of the world and the occurrence of the construct" and Heidegger's "understanding and interpretation", a fundamentally similar. In this paper, I will attempt to show that there is a fundamental similarity between Husserl's genetic phenomenology and Heidegger's hermeneutic phenomenology. I will do this by analyzing the concept of "genesis" in Husserl's genetic phenomenology and also in Heidegger's hermeneutic phenomenology. I will show that there is a fundamental similarity between the transcendental genesis as the main topic of Husserl's genetic phenomenology and the ontological genesis as the main topic of Heidegger's hermeneutic phenomenology. Due to the similarity between them, there is a fundamental similarity between Husserl's transcendental subjectivity as the bearer of the transcendental genesis and Heidegger's Dasein as the bearer of the ontological genesis. Moreover, there is a fundamental similarity Husserl's concept of the world and Heidegger's concept of the a priori field, between "world consciousness and genetic constitution" in Husserl and "understanding and interpretation "in Heidegger. (shrink)

The relation between free will and necessity is one of the most important issues regarding the problem of “free will”. This is because of the rule which indicates that “being not necessary, an event would not be came off”. There has been an ongoing debate among theologians, philosophers and Jurists on whether this rule includes free actions. Sadrain Philosophers believe that this rule is inclusive of human free actions, while followers of the Na’eeni school endorse the opposite. In this article, (...) after reviewing the views of philosophers and jurists on the stages of a free action, I shall explore the question whether human actions, stages of which are understood deterministic, could be regarded as free, and so, whether Na’eenian criticisms against philosophers are justified. Besides, I shall put forth some innovative ideas of Allameh Ja’fari concerning the issue, whose view, while revises some philosophers’, is not compatible with that of Na’eeni. (shrink)

With almost unmatched sociocultural diversity, South Africa is an ideal melting pot for the great unity-in-diversity experiment of Universal Dignity. If the disparate people of planet earth have any fighting chance of averting the looming dystopian existential crisis inherent in unsustainable development, the hopes thereof begin in the South. Identity-based polarisation and its attendant torment of destructive strife must be exchanged for a mutually beneficial ethos of fulfillment, that truly 'leaves no one behind.' This volume offers meaningful pathways to this (...) haven of 'Ubuntu'. (shrink)

This study takes the reader on a journey that traces the course of Platonic and Neoplatonic concepts of Eros as they shaped major patterns in medieval Islamic and Jewish thought. It shows the impact of the ancient Greek heritage on Arabic and Hebrew sources, culminating in their profound expression in the Zohar, the major work of Jewish mysticism, which emerged at the end of the thirteenth century. Since philosophical concepts played a central role in the formulation of kabbalistic traditions, this (...) study positions the rise of medieval Jewish mysticism in the context of medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy, which are viewed here as a continuum. The study thus sets the notions of love in Jewish mysticism against the background of the vast literature on love in Arabic, which can be viewed as their immediate historical precedent. The rich dialogue to be found between various religious traditions affords a more sensitive decoding of the metaphysics that underlie Jewish mystical literature. (shrink)

A research study on Theantropy (including shamanism) as the foundation of spiritual life in world religions.

Machines will attain human levels of intelligence by the year 2040, predicts robotics expert Hans Moravec. And by 2050, they will have far surpassed us. In this mind-bending new book, Hans Moravec takes the reader on a roller coaster ride packed with such startling predictions. He tells us, for instance, that in the not-too-distant future, an army of robots will displace workers, causing massive, unprecedented unemployment. But then, says Moravec, a period of very comfortable existence will follow, as humans benefit (...) from a fully automated economy. And eventually, as machines evolve far beyond humanity, robots will supplant us. But if Moravec predicts the end of the domination by human beings, his is not a bleak vision. Far from railing against a future in which machines rule the world, Moravec embraces it, taking the startling view that intelligent robots will actually be our evolutionary heirs. "Intelligent machines, which will grow from us, learn our skills, and share our goals and values, can be viewed as children of our minds." And since they are our children, we will want them to outdistance us. In fact, in a bid for immortality, many of our descendants will choose to transform into "ex humans," as they upload themselves into advanced computers. We will become our children and live forever. In his provocative new book, the highly anticipated follow-up to his bestselling volume Mind Children, Moravec charts the trajectory of robotics in breathtaking detail. A must read for artificial intelligence, technology, and computer enthusiasts, Moravec's freewheeling but informed speculations present a future far different than we ever dared imagine. (shrink)

According to prominent philosophical views, appreciating beauty involves psychological distancing, where one does not consider the beautiful object in light of practical interests, and beauty leads to transformative and self-transcendent affective experiences. In this study (N = 187), conducted in the naturalistic environment of a museum, we explored these ideas. Half the participants were instructed to rate the beauty of pottery objects created by a renowned artist, while the other half engaged in a control task that did not involve (...) evaluating beauty. Based on Construal Level Theory, we used the Behavior Identification Form to explore whether aesthetic experiences encourage abstract thinking, and in turn, psychological distance. We also predicted that beauty appreciation would lead to greater transformative and self-transcendent emotions. Indeed, appreciating the beauty of artworks led participants to think in a more abstract way, especially those who practice an art hobby themselves, as well as to transformative, and self-transcendent emotions. (shrink)