A Neurophenomenology of Awe and Wonder


Book Description

This book presents a study of the various feelings of awe and wonder experienced by astronauts during space flight. It summarizes the results of two experimental, interdisciplinary studies that employ methods from neuroscience, psychology, phenomenology and simulation technology, and it argues for a non-reductionist approach to cognitive science.




A Neurophenomenology of Awe and Wonder


Book Description

This book presents a study of the various feelings of awe and wonder experienced by astronauts during space flight. It summarizes the results of two experimental, interdisciplinary studies that employ methods from neuroscience, psychology, phenomenology and simulation technology, and it argues for a non-reductionist approach to cognitive science.







Virtual Reality in Behavioral Neuroscience: New Insights and Methods


Book Description

Virtual Reality (VR) is a rapidly maturing technology that offers new and unique solutions to otherwise intractable problems in the study of cognition, behavior and neuroscience. VR removes many of the constraints imposed by laboratory paradigms, allowing us to track cognitive, behavioral and brain responses to naturalistic (or even impossible) situations without sacrificing experimental control. But VR is not a tool that can be swiftly and effortlessly integrated into existing research pipelines; currently, the benefits of VR are accompanied by a host of methodological challenges and important practical considerations. To help navigate this new methodology, this volume provides a balanced review of both the exciting new findings emerging from VR labs and the challenges and limitations that are part and parcel of VR research. This volume is an important first step toward establishing a standardised methodology for conducting research in VR. To this end, the volume provides a wealth of practical advice for researchers who are new to the technology. This volume is authored by an interdisciplinary team of VR researchers including computer scientists, engineers, psychologists and neuroscientists. It highlights current research in the field to demonstrate how VR advances our understanding of the mind, while also providing groundbreaking solutions in applied domains.




The fabric(ation) of consciousness


Book Description

Consciousness is central to the quest for being human and for what the world is made of. While there is widespread agreement on the significance of consciousness for clarifying the human condition, there is no agreement on the phenomenon in search of theorising. Although there is no shortage of theories and concepts of consciousness in current consciousness research, the dominant critical analysis of consciousness research in this study, although based on existing analyses, is (as far as I can see) new and unique in arguing for a crisis in consciousness research. This book touches on most aspects of consciousness research (the hard problem of conscious-ness, neural correlates of consciousness, brain models and consciousness, consciousness and dualistic thinking, etc.) but is a critical analysis of consciousness research. It is not an insider but a third-person perspective on current consciousness research. In this regard, it differs from most introductions and overviews where these topics are presented from a first-person perspective (the insiders' claim about their research). Representing the broad spectrum of consciousness research in terms of the theoretical framework of a neuro-ecological perspective is a new and innovative move.




The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible


Book Description

The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible represents a comprehensive resource for researchers and practitioners interested in an emerging multidisciplinary area within psychology and the social sciences: the study of how we engage with and cultivate the possible within self, society and culture. Far from being opposed either to the actual or the real, the possible engages with concrete facts and experiences, with the result of transforming them. This encyclopedia examines the notion of the possible and the concepts associated with it from standpoints within psychology, philosophy, sociology, neuroscience and logic, as well as multidisciplinary fields of research including anticipation studies, future studies, complexity theory and creativity research. Presenting multiple perspectives on the possible, the authors consider the distinct social, cultural and psychological processes - e.g., imagination, counterfactual thinking, wonder, play, inspiration, and many others - that define our engagement with new possibilities in domains as diverse as the arts, design and business.







Towards a Just and Ecologically Sustainable Peace


Book Description

This book addresses the need to develop a holistic approach to countering violence that integrates notions of peace, justice and care of the Earth. It is unique in that it does not stop with the move toward articulating ‘Just Peace’ as a human concern but probes the mindset needed for the shift to a ‘Just and Ecologically Sustainable Peace’. It explores the values and principles that can guide this shift, theoretically and in practice. International in scope and grounded in the reality of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific context, the book brings together important insights drawn from the Indigenous relationship to land, ecological feminism, ecological philosophy, the social sciences more generally, and a range of religious and non-religious cosmologies. Drawn from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, the contributors in this book apply their combined professional expertise and active engagement to illuminate the difficult choices that lie ahead.




How Would we Know what God is up to?


Book Description

"Academic (finite) co-travellers who will dare to accept are invited in the ecotheological 'Anthropocene period' to journey together (without a roadmap), exploring the probing and unnerving question, 'What is God up to?' This question is exploringly posed and rigorously pursued in the book. The reader will find themselves enraptured by the breadth, depth, and height of a methodological approach to the uncharted landscape of the mystery of an (infinite) God, as well as sense-making narratives of our world--contextually and receptively and constructively, as well as sensitively." --Prof. Danie Veldsman, Department Systematic and Historical Theology, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa "Since we live on a 'planet in peril', this proposed ecotheology summa is both timely and significant. This book and the series as a whole engage the perennial themes of systematic Christian theology from the perspective of the multiple strands of ecological reflection. I look forward to reading all the volumes of the 'An Earthed Faith: Telling the Story amid the "Anthropocene book series." --Prof. Susan Rakoczy, St. Joseph's Theological Institute, Cedara, South Africa




Philosophy and Psychedelics


Book Description

What do psychedelics reveal about consciousness? What impact have psychedelics had on philosophy? In this rapidly growing area of study, this is the first volume to explore the philosophy of psychedelic experience, from a range of interdisciplinary and cross-cultural perspectives. In doing so, Philosophy and Psychedelics reveals just why the place of psychedelics in our societies should not be left to medical sciences alone, as psychedelic experience opens up new perspectives on fundamental philosophical questions relating to human experience, ethics, and the metaphysics of mind. Mapping a range of philosophical responses to the surge in studies into psychedelic drugs in the cognitive sciences, this go-to volume examines topics including psychedelics and the role of governance; psychedelics and mysticism; what psychedelics can tell us about dyadic thankfulness; and psychedelics as ways to gain new knowledge. Written by leading international scholars, the essays cover Western and non-Western traditions, from analytic philosophy to Zen Buddhism, and discuss a variety of hallucinogens, such as LSD, MDMA, and Ayahuasca, in order to build a much-needed bridge between the rapidly growing scientific research and the philosophy behind psychedelic experience.




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