Our Mathematical Universe


Book Description

Max Tegmark leads us on an astonishing journey through past, present and future, and through the physics, astronomy and mathematics that are the foundation of his work, most particularly his hypothesis that our physical reality is a mathematical structure and his theory of the ultimate multiverse. In a dazzling combination of both popular and groundbreaking science, he not only helps us grasp his often mind-boggling theories, but he also shares with us some of the often surprising triumphs and disappointments that have shaped his life as a scientist. Fascinating from first to last—this is a book that has already prompted the attention and admiration of some of the most prominent scientists and mathematicians.




Causal Pluralism in the Life Sciences


Book Description

This book takes a new approach to the debate on causal pluralism in the philosophy of biology by asking how useful pluralism is instead of debating its truth. The core thesis in this work is that many problems do not hinge on the question of whether or not we subscribe to causal pluralism. As one step in this central argument, the author develops an account that reasonably distinguishes pluralism from monism; in another step he studies cases that allegedly motivate causal pluralism in biology. Examining these cases shows how pluralism is often irrelevant and why pursuing pluralism is sometimes dangerous, since it may generate pseudo solutions to persistent philosophical problems. This book offers a systematic approach to this subject matter and argues that we might have overestimated the significance of the monism-pluralism distinction and at the same time failed to see the risks of pursuing causal pluralism.




From Eternity to Here


Book Description

"An accessible and engaging exploration of the mysteries of time." -Brian Greene, author of The Elegant Universe Twenty years ago, Stephen Hawking tried to explain time by understanding the Big Bang. Now, Sean Carroll says we need to be more ambitious. One of the leading theoretical physicists of his generation, Carroll delivers a dazzling and paradigm-shifting theory of time's arrow that embraces subjects from entropy to quantum mechanics to time travel to information theory and the meaning of life. From Eternity to Here is no less than the next step toward understanding how we came to exist, and a fantastically approachable read that will appeal to a broad audience of armchair physicists, and anyone who ponders the nature of our world.




Unlimit Yourself: The Ultimate Successful Life System


Book Description

While treating yourself to the supremely simple, yet extremely powerful system for successful living offered in this book, you will joyfully observe: You effortlessly withdraw from your peak pleasure, power, performance, prosperity and health banks. How to soar into the wonderful world of the activated superstar infused with peak emotional pleasure and bursting with physical energy! How to liberate your unlimiting superstar within, to experience being the masterpiece of creation who you really are! You will jubilantly observe while treating yourself to this ultimate unlimiting celebration of life that you will receive benefits across the board and immediately in all dimensions of life. In addition, you will notice that you are receiving these benefits for less effort, strain, and stress than you are currently enduring for the pitiful, pathetic, paltry benefits of the limiting systems which you are currently struggling with. You will benefit as you learn mostly by enjoying outrageous, humorous, or inspiring memorable stories such as: 1 - The fifty-dollar Mercedes 2 - The discovery of the world’s largest sapphire 3 - The activated tennis turtle 4 - The worlds’ most successful financiers







The Personal Universal


Book Description

Our world is poised upon a significant threshold of evolutionary thinking and being. We are the generation on the brink of creating a new spiritual paradigm, not just for one small branch or community of the global family, but truly for all humankind. The Personal Universal is a guidebook in the truest sense of the phrase, a tour manual designed to be both reference tool and inspiration upon your own evolutionary journey, your personal exploration of the Universal. This book offers sign posts, way pointers, inspiration and sound advice for anyone seeking to launch their own voyage into the realm of spirit and become intimate with the infinite. The Personal Universal offers a ticket to your own consciousness, a must have itinerary for the road trip of life. It does not dictate a fixed agenda or define a specific map or methodology but it does enable and empower all who read it to discover their own unique pathways to enlightenment. The Personal Universal is the culmination of over 25 years of guide messages designed to inspire and promote a deeper investigation into the nature of the soul and a truer understanding of the role of the Personal in the Universal realm of being. The Personal Universal is much more than a book. It is a place of union, a place of fusion, a place where destinies are fine tuned and awareness is honed. It is a lighthouse of spirit where those who are seeking can find inspiration, where those with the wisdom to question can find answers, where those that are adrift can find safe harbor and a sure anchor. It is a torch designed to set alight aspects of soul and self; it warms, it brightens and it enlightens. The Personal Universal offers motivation, stimulation, inspiration and at times, revelation.




The Self Beyond Itself


Book Description

“Intertwines history, philosophy, and science . . . A powerful challenge to conventional notions of individual responsibility” (Publishers Weekly). Few concepts are more unshakable in our culture than free will, the idea that individuals are fundamentally in control of the decisions they make, good or bad. And yet the latest research about how the brain functions seems to point in the opposite direction . . . In a work of breathtaking intellectual sweep and erudition, Heidi M. Ravven offers a riveting and accessible review of cutting-edge neuroscientific research into the brain’s capacity for decision-making—from “mirror” neurons and “self-mapping” to surprising new understandings of group psychology. The Self Beyond Itself also introduces readers to a rich, alternative philosophical tradition of ethics, rooted in the writing of Baruch Spinoza, that finds uncanny confirmation in modern science. Illustrating the results of today’s research with real-life examples, taking readers from elementary school classrooms to Nazi concentration camps, Ravven demonstrates that it is possible to build a theory of ethics that doesn’t rely on free will yet still holds both individuals and groups responsible for the decisions that help create a good society. The Self Beyond Itself is that rare book that injects new ideas into an old debate—and “an important contribution to the development of our thinking about morality” (Washington Independent Review of Books). “An intellectual hand-grenade . . . A magisterial survey of how contemporary neuroscience supports a vision of human morality which puts it squarely on the same plane as other natural phenomena.” —William D. Casebeer, author of Natural Ethical Facts




The Aesthetics of Meaning and Thought


Book Description

All too often, we think of our minds and bodies separately. The reality couldn’t be more different: the fundamental fact about our mind is that it is embodied. We have a deep visceral, emotional, and qualitative relationship to the world—and any scientifically and philosophically satisfactory view of the mind must take into account the ways that cognition, meaning, language, action, and values are grounded in and shaped by that embodiment. This book gathers the best of philosopher Mark Johnson’s essays addressing questions of our embodiment as they deal with aesthetics—which, he argues, we need to rethink so that it takes into account the central role of body-based meaning. Viewed that way, the arts can give us profound insights into the processes of meaning making that underlie our conceptual systems and cultural practices. Johnson shows how our embodiment shapes our philosophy, science, morality, and art; what emerges is a view of humans as aesthetic, meaning-making creatures who draw on their deepest physical processes to make sense of the world around them.




International Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning


Book Description

The Routledge International Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning is an authoritative reference work providing a balanced overview of current scholarship spanning the full breadth of the rapidly developing and expanding field of thinking and reasoning. It contains 35 chapters written by leading international researchers, covering foundational issues as well as state-of-the-art developments in thinking and reasoning research. Topics covered range across all sub-areas of thinking and reasoning, including deduction, induction, abduction, judgment, decision making, argumentation, problem solving, expertise, creativity and rationality. The contributors engage with cutting-edge debates such as the status of dual-process theories of thinking, the role of unconscious, intuitive, emotional and metacognitive processes in thinking, and the importance of probabilistic conceptualisations of thinking and reasoning. Authors also examine the importance of neuroscientific findings in informing theoretical developments, and explore the situated nature of thinking and reasoning across a range of real-world contexts such as mathematics, medicine and science. The Handbook provides a clear sense of the way in which contemporary ideas are challenging traditional viewpoints as "new paradigm of the psychology of reasoning" emerges. This paradigm-shifting research is paving the way toward a richer and more inclusive understanding of thinking and reasoning, where important new questions drive a forward-looking research agenda. It is essential reading for both established researchers in the field of thinking and reasoning as well as advanced students wishing to learn more about both the historical foundations and latest developments in this rapidly growing field.