The Human World In The Physical Universe

Author : Nicholas Maxwell
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 9780742512269
Total Pages : 338 pages
Book Rating : 4.66/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Human World in the Physical Universe written by Nicholas Maxwell and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2001 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How is it possible for the world as we experience it to exist embedded in the physical universe? How can there be sensory qualities, consciousness, freedom, science and art, friendship, love, justice--all that which gives meaning and value to life--if the world really is more or less as modern science tells us it is? This is the problem that is tackled by this book. The solution proposed is that physics describes only a selected aspect of all that exists--that aspect which determines the way events unfold. Sensory qualities, inner experiences, consciousness, meaning and value, all these exist but lie beyond the scope of physics, and of that part of science that can be reduced to physics. Furthermore, these human features of the world are to be explained and understood, not scientifically, but "personalistically," a kind of understanding distinct from, and not reducible to, science. This view that the world is riddled with what may be called "double comprehensibility" leads to a proposed solution to the philosophical mind/body problem, and to the problem of free will; it leads to a reinterpretation of Darwin's theory of evolution, and to an account of the evolution of consciousness and free will. After a discussion of the location of consciousness in the brain, the book concludes with a proposal as to how academic inquiry might be changed so that it becomes a kind of inquiry rationally designed to help humanity create a more civilized human world in the physical universe.

Author : John R. Anderson
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199741263
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.67/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book How Can the Human Mind Occur in the Physical Universe? written by John R. Anderson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-08-28 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The question for me is how can the human mind occur in the physical universe. We now know that the world is governed by physics. We now understand the way biology nestles comfortably within that. The issue is how will the mind do that as well."--Allen Newell, December 4, 1991, Carnegie Mellon University The argument John Anderson gives in this book was inspired by the passage above, from the last lecture by one of the pioneers of cognitive science. Newell describes what, for him, is the pivotal question of scientific inquiry, and Anderson gives an answer that is emerging from the study of brain and behavior. Humans share the same basic cognitive architecture with all primates, but they have evolved abilities to exercise abstract control over cognition and process more complex relational patterns. The human cognitive architecture consists of a set of largely independent modules associated with different brain regions. In this book, Anderson discusses in detail how these various modules can combine to produce behaviors as varied as driving a car and solving an algebraic equation, but focuses principally on two of the modules: the declarative and procedural. The declarative module involves a memory system that, moment by moment, attempts to give each person the most appropriate possible window into his or her past. The procedural module involves a central system that strives to develop a set of productions that will enable the most adaptive response from any state of the modules. Newell argued that the answer to his question must take the form of a cognitive architecture, and Anderson organizes his answer around the ACT-R architecture, but broadens it by bringing in research from all areas of cognitive science, including how recent work in brain imaging maps onto the cognitive architecture.

Author : Alan Lightman
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0593081323
Total Pages : 209 pages
Book Rating : 4.27/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Probable Impossibilities written by Alan Lightman and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2022-04-19 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The acclaimed author of Einstein’s Dreams tackles "big questions like the origin of the universe and the nature of consciousness ... in an entertaining and easily digestible way” (Wall Street Journal) with a collection of meditative essays on the possibilities—and impossibilities—of nothingness and infinity, and how our place in the cosmos falls somewhere in between. Can space be divided into smaller and smaller units, ad infinitum? Does space extend to larger and larger regions, on and on to infinity? Is consciousness reducible to the material brain and its neurons? What was the origin of life, and can biologists create life from scratch in the lab? Physicist and novelist Alan Lightman, whom The Washington Post has called “the poet laureate of science writers,” explores these questions and more—from the anatomy of a smile to the capriciousness of memory to the specialness of life in the universe to what came before the Big Bang. Probable Impossibilities is a deeply engaged consideration of what we know of the universe, of life and the mind, and of things vastly larger and smaller than ourselves.

Author : Nancy Ellen Abrams
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300167326
Total Pages : 258 pages
Book Rating : 4.20/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The New Universe and the Human Future written by Nancy Ellen Abrams and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-19 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A cultural philosopher and an astrophysicist attempt to decipher how we fit into the universe, and the impact our placement has on us. After a four-century rupture between science and the questions of value and meaning, this groundbreaking book presents an explosive and potentially life-altering idea: if the world could agree on a shared creation story based on modern cosmology and biology—a story that has just become available—it would redefine our relationship with Planet Earth and benefit all of humanity, now and into the distant future. Written in eloquent, accessible prose and illustrated in magnificent color throughout, including images from innovative simulations of the evolving universe, this book brings the new scientific picture of the universe to life. It interprets what our human place in the cosmos may mean for us and our descendants. It offers unique insights into the potential use of this newfound knowledge to find solutions to seemingly intractable global problems such as climate change and unsustainable growth. And it explains why we need to “think cosmically, act globally” if we're going to have a long-term, prosperous future on Earth. “Should be read by anyone, not just scientists, who worry about the human condition.”—Deepak Chopra, The Huffington Post “A prophetic book. Its message ranks right up there with those of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Joel. Like the prophets, it is at times poetic, demanding, grounded, soaring, empowering, and always awe-inspiring.”—Matthew Fox, Tikkun “The ideas and images are fascinating and certainly contribute to a sense of the profound stakes involved in what we’re doing to the planet and ourselves.”—William Kowinski, North Coast Journal

Author : David Wilkinson
Publisher : A&C Black
ISBN 13 : 0567045463
Total Pages : 254 pages
Book Rating : 4.61/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Christian Eschatology and the Physical Universe written by David Wilkinson and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2010-07-29 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that the Christian understanding of new creation speaks powerfully to both theologians and scientists.

Author : Professor Brian Cox
Publisher : HarperCollins UK
ISBN 13 : 0008129797
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.98/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Human Universe written by Professor Brian Cox and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2015-05-07 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Top ten Sunday Times Bestseller ‘Engaging, ambitious and creative’ Guardian Where are we? Are we alone? Who are we? Why are we here? What is our future?

Author : Hasan S. Padamsee
Publisher : CRC Press
ISBN 13 : 9780750307581
Total Pages : 708 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Unifying the Universe written by Hasan S. Padamsee and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2002-11-05 with total page 708 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unifying the Universe: The Physics of Heaven and Earth provides a solid background in basic physics. With a humanistic perspective, it shows how science is significant for more than its technological consequences. The book includes clear and well-planned links to the arts and philosophies of relevant historical periods to bring science and the humanities together.

Author : Matthew M. Radmanesh
Publisher : AuthorHouse
ISBN 13 : 1425916007
Total Pages : 420 pages
Book Rating : 4.08/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Cracking the Code of Our Physical Universe written by Matthew M. Radmanesh and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2006-05-30 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What sets this book apart is the fact that it is not just another science book describing scientific facts and phenomena! It would surely be redundant since that task has been done many times over with much more elegant prose and brighter narrators. In this book, for the first time we have undertaken the task of breaking the code of any piece of matter or natural phenomena; whether it is an atom, a quantum occurance, a planet, a galaxy, or any other perceivable thing. It covers any natural phenomena ever discovered or one that will be unravelled by the future pioneers in their respective fields. This book provides the trail map of any and all things that man has discovered and shows how their codes were cracked. The list of discoveries is endless but prominent amongst them are the discovery of fire, elecricity, magnetism, laws of motion, the solar system and planets, so on and so forth. This book goes beyond just pure science since it fuses philosophy with science. It actually makes science a subset of philosophy, or more precisely, applied philosophy. Just like the light phenomenon, which was made to be a subset of the field of electricity by James Clerk Maxwell, revolutionizing our technical world, so does this book by bringing a new era of incredible developments for mankind!

Author : Christopher Potter
Publisher : Knopf Canada
ISBN 13 : 0307375226
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.23/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book You Are Here written by Christopher Potter and published by Knopf Canada. This book was released on 2010-05-25 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thrilling biography of the universe, as seen through the lens of today’s most cutting-edge scientific thinking. Here’s the book that explains the universe. You Are Here is an exhilarating journey that shows the cosmos as it has never been seen before. From the smallest parts of matter to the largest structures in the universe, Christopher Potter traces the life of the universe from theories of its conception to theories of its eventual fate. Along this heart-stopping voyage from quarks to galaxies, he writes entertainingly about the history and philosophy of science. With wisdom and wonder, Potter traverses the cosmos from its formation to its eventual end – while exploring everything in between. Some questions You Are Here sets out to answer: • What is this ‘everything’ that has evolved from nothing? And what do we mean by everything? • What stuff is ‘nothing’ made out of? • If the universe contains everything there is then what is it contained in? • Where are we in the universe? • Is there room for God in a material universe? • How scared should we be? • What fate awaits the universe? Science actually has answers to these questions, and in You Are Here, Potter will explain them to you.

Author : Alan Lightman
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0307908593
Total Pages : 108 pages
Book Rating : 4.99/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Accidental Universe written by Alan Lightman and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2014-01-14 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling author of Einsteins Dreams explores the emotional and philosophical questions raised by recent discoveries in science with passion and curiosity. He looks at the dialogue between science and religion; the conflict between our human desire for permanence and the impermanence of nature; the possibility that our universe is simply an accident; the manner in which modern technology has separated us from direct experience of the world; and our resistance to the view that our bodies and minds can be explained by scientific logic and laws. Behind all of these considerations is the suggestion--at once haunting and exhilarating--that what we see and understand of the world is only a tiny piece of the extraordinary, perhaps unfathomable whole.