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Consciousness and Its Evolution: from a Human Being to a Post-Human

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Consciousness and Its Evolution: from a Human Being to a Post-Human Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej w Lublinie Wydział Filozofii i Socjologii Taras Handziy Consciousness and Its Evolution: From a Human Being to a Post-Human Rozprawa doktorska napisana pod kierunkiem dr hab. Zbysława Muszyńskiego, prof. nadzw. UMCS Lublin 2014 Table of Contents Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………. 8 Chapter 1: Consciousness, Mind, and Body …………………………………………………… 18 1.1 Conceptions of Consciousness …………………………………………………………. 18 1.1.1 Colin McGinn’s Conception of Consciousness ……………………………………….... 18 1.1.1.1 Owen Flanagan’s Analysis of Colin McGinn’s Conception of Consciousness ….…….. 20 1.1.2 Paola Zizzi’s Conception of Consciousness ………………………………………….… 21 1.1.3 William James’ Stream of Consciousness ……………………………………………… 22 1.1.4 Ervin Laszlo’s Conception of Consciousness …………………………………………... 22 1.2 Consciousness and Soul ………………………………………...………………………. 24 1.3 Problems in Definition of Consciousness ………………………………………………. 24 1.4 Distinctions between Consciousness and Mind ………………………………………... 25 1.5 Problems in Definition of Mind ………………………………………………………… 26 1.6 Dogmatism in Mind and Mind without Dogmatism ……………………………………. 27 1.6.1 Dogmatism in Mind …………………………………………………………………….. 27 1.6.2 Mind without Dogmatism …………………………………………………………….… 28 1.6.3 Rupert Sheldrake’s Dogmatism in Science …………………………………………….. 29 1.7 Criticism of Scientific Approaches towards Study of Mind ……………….…………… 30 1.8 Conceptions of Mind …………………………………………………………………… 31 1.8.1 Rupert Sheldrake’s Conception of Extended Mind …………………………………….. 31 1.8.2 Colin McGinns’s Knowing and Willing Halves of Mind ……………………………..... 34 1.8.3 Francisco Varela’s, Evan Thompson’s, and Eleanor Rosch’s Embodied Mind ………... 35 1.8.4 Andy Clark’s Extended Mind …………………………………………………………... 35 1.8.5 Role of Mind Understood by Paola Zizzi ………………………………………………. 36 1.9 Mind in Buddhism, Consciousness in Tibetan Buddhism ……………………………… 36 1.9.1 Mind in Buddhism ……………………………………………………………………… 36 1.9.2 B. Alan Wallace’s Observation of the Space of Mind, Buddhist tradition ………….….. 37 1.9.3 Consciousness in Tibetan Buddhism …………………………………………………… 38 1.10 Criticism of Some Conceptions ………………………………………………………… 39 1.10.1 Dualism Criticism ……………………………………………………………………… 39 1.10.2 Reductionism Criticism ………………………………………………………...………. 40 1.10.2.1 Peter Russel’s Reductionism Criticism and Consciousness ……………………………. 41 1.11 Emergence …………………………………………………………………………….... 42 1.11.1 Ursula Goodenough’s and Terrence W. Deacon’s Emergence ………………………… 42 2 1.11.2 Jason W. Brown’s Emergence ……………………………………………………….… 43 1.12 Panpsychism ……………………………………………………………………………. 44 1.12.1 Introductory Notes ……………………………………………………………………… 44 1.12.2 Approaches in Panpsychism ……………………………………………………………. 45 1.12.3 Timothy Sprigge’s Consciousness in Panpsychism ……………………………………. 45 1.12.4 The Importance of Panpsychism ……………………………………………………….. 46 1.13 Mindfulness …………………………………………………………………………….. 46 1.13.1 Mindfulness and Buddhism …………………………………………………………….. 47 1.13.2 Mindfulness and Psychotherapy ………………………………………………………... 47 1.13.3 Mindfulness and Cognition …………………………………………………………….. 48 1.14 Will and Love as Aspects of Mind …………………………………………………....... 48 1.14.1 Will ……………………………………………………………………………………... 49 1.14.1.1 Roberto Assagioli’s Will ……………………………………………………………….. 49 1.14.1.2 Jason W. Brown’s Will …………………………………………………………………. 50 1.14.2 Love …………………………………………………………………………………….. 50 1.14.3 Roberto Assagioli’s Will and Love, Joyous Will ………………………………………. 51 1.15 Personal Identity ……..…………………………………………………………………. 52 1.15.1 Brian Garret’s Problems of Personal Identity ………………………………………….. 52 1.15.2 Understanding of Personal Identity …………………………………………………….. 53 1.16 Consciousness, Mind, and Body Unity …………………………………………………. 54 1.16.1 Francisco Varela’s, Evan Thompson’s, and Eleanor Rosch’s Mind and Body Unity ….. 54 1.16.2 Principle of Complementarity Derived from Quantum Physics ………………………... 55 1.16.3 David Bohm’s Mind and Body Interactions …………………………………………..... 55 1.16.4 Understanding of Consciousness, Mind, and Body Unity ……………………………... 57 1.17 Brief Conclusions ………………………………………………………………………. 58 Chapter 2: Altered States of Consciousness, Evolution of Consciousness, and Cognition …. 59 2.1 Definition of Altered State of Consciousness ………………………………………….. 59 2.2 Ervin Laszlo’s Analysis of Altered States of Consciousness …………………………... 60 2.3 Classification of Altered States of Consciousness ……………………………………... 61 2.4 Functions of Altered State of Consciousness …………………………………………... 61 2.5 Out-of-Body Experience ……………………………………………………………….. 62 2.6 ASCo Caused by Meditation …………………………………………...………………. 63 2.7 Stanislav Grof’s Idea of Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness …………………….... 63 2.8 Near-Death Experiences ………………..……………………………………………… 64 2.8.1 Transformative Effects of NDE ………………………………………………………... 66 3 2.9 Transference of Consciousness in Tibetan Buddhism …………………………………. 67 2.10 Richard Maurice Bucke’s Idea of Cosmic Consciousness and Evolution ……………... 68 2.10.1 Three Grades of Consciousness ………………………………………………………... 68 2.10.2 Four Stages of Mind ……………………………………………………………………. 69 2.10.3 From Self Consciousness to Cosmic Consciousness …………………………………… 70 2.10.4 Cosmic Consciousness and Altered States of Consciousness ………………………….. 71 2.11 Mystical Experience and Mental Disorder ……………………………………………... 71 2.12 Mysticism as Frontier of Consciousness Evolution …………………………………….. 73 2.13 Altered States of Consciousness (ASCo), Cognition, and New Knowledge …………… 74 2.14 Brief Conclusions ………………………………………………………………………. 75 Chapter 3: The Warping of Time and Consciousness ………………………………………… 76 3.1 Space as a Plenum, Cosmic Plenum ……………………………………………………. 76 3.1.1 Freya Mathew’s Idea of a Universe as a Unified and Expanding Plenum ……………... 77 3.2 Black Holes ……………………………………………………………………………... 78 3.2.1 Planckian Black Holes ………………………………………………………………...... 79 3.3 The Warping of Time …………………………………………………………………... 80 3.4 Time Reversibility ……………………………………………………………………… 81 3.5 Henri Bergson’s Idea of Duration ………………………………………………………. 83 3.6 Ilya Prigogine’s Internal Time ………………………………………………………….. 84 3.7 David Lewis’ Time Travel ……………………………………………………………… 85 3.8 Time Slip ……………………………………………………………………………….. 86 3.9 Quantum Theory: Denial of Commonsense Physical Reality ………………………….. 86 3.10 John Wheeler’s Idea of the Participatory Universe …………………………………….. 87 3.11 Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle ………………………………………………………. 88 3.12 Bell’s Theorem …………………………………………………………………………. 89 3.13 Inside Singularities ………………………………………………………………….….. 90 3.14 Consciousness and Quantum Theory …………………………………………………... 90 3.15 Brief Conclusions ……………………………………………………………………..... 92 Chapter 4: Experiment in Consciousness …………………………………………………….... 93 4.1 Experimental Philosophy ……………………………………………………………..… 93 4.1.1 Philosophical Intuitions ………………………………………………………………… 93 4.1.2 Collision between Philosophical Intuitions ………………………………………….…. 93 4.1.3 Methods of Experimental Philosophy ………………………………………………….. 95 4.2 Mental Imagery ………………………………………………………………………… 96 4 4.2.1 Mental Imagery of a Quantum Object ……………………………………………..…… 96 4.3 Geometric Point as an Object of Mental Imagery ……………………………..……….. 97 4.4 Roberto Assagioli’s Act of Will …………………………………………..……………. 98 4.5 The Experiment in Consciousness (Part 1) ………………………………………...…… 98 4.6 One-Pointedness of Mind in Buddhism ……………………………………….………. 101 4.7 Cosmology of a Geometric Point ……………………………………………………... 102 4.7.1 Gottfried Leibnitz’s Monads ………………………………………………………….. 102 4.7.2 Alfred North Whitehead’s Geometric Point and Cosmology …………………………. 103 4.7.3 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s Omega Point ……………………………………………. 103 4.7.4 David Bohm’s Origin of the Universe and “Moments” ………………………………. 104 4.7.5 Stephen Hawking’s Singularity ……………………………………………………….. 104 4.7.6 Planckian Black Hole …………………………………………………………………. 105 4.7.7 Ralph Abraham’s Omega Limit Critical Point ………………………………………... 106 4.8 Approximation to a Point in Tibetan Buddhism and Hypnosis ……………………….. 106 4.8.1 Mandalas in Tibetan Buddhism ……………………………………………………….. 106 4.8.2 Concentric Circles in Hypnosis ……………………………………………………….. 107 4.9 Time Dilation ………………………………………………………………………….. 107 4.10 Brief Conclusions ……………………………………………………………………... 110 Chapter 5: Evolution from a Human Being to a Post-Human ………………………………. 111 5.1 A Person’s Evolution ………………………………………………………………….. 111 5.1.1 P. Teilhard de Chardin’s Evolution …………………………………………………… 111 5.1.2 Rupert Sheldrake’s Analysis of Theories of Evolution ……………………………….. 111 5.1.3 Rupert Sheldrake’s Morphic Resonance and Morphogenetic Fields …………………. 112 5.2 The Evolution of Consciousness …..………………………………………………….. 113 5.2.1 Sri Aurobindo’s Evolution of Consciousness …………………………………………. 113 5.2.2 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s Evolution of Mind and Consciousness ………………… 114 5.2.3 Ervin Laszlo’s Evolution of Human Consciousness ………………………………….. 114 5.2.4 Rupert Sheldrake’s Evolution of Consciousness ……………………………………… 115 5.3 Idea of a Post-Human …………………………………………………………………. 116 5.3.1 Max More’s Idea of a Post-Human and Its Criticism …………………………………. 117 5.3.1 Nick Bostrom’s Idea of a Post-Human and Its Criticism ……………………………... 118 5.4 Idea of a Transhuman …………………………………………………………………. 119 5.5 Model of a Person’s Evolution: Becoming a Post-Human ……………………………. 120 5.6 Ervin Laszlo’s Advent of Integral Quantum Science …………………………………. 121 5.7 Theory of Multiverse ………………………………………………………………….. 122 5 5.7.1 White Holes …………………………………………………………………………… 123 5.7.2 Itzhak Bentov’s Model of Border between Universes ………………………………... 124 5.7.3 Model of Uniborder ……………………………………………………………………
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