The Return of Consciousness a New Science on Old Questions * Editors Kurt Almqvist & Anders Haag
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Antinatalism and Moral Particularism Gerald K
Essays in Philosophy Volume 20 Article 5 Issue 1 Is Procreation Immoral? 1-22-2019 Antinatalism and Moral Particularism Gerald K. Harrison Massey University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.pacificu.edu/eip Recommended Citation Harrison, Gerald K. () "Antinatalism and Moral Particularism," Essays in Philosophy: Vol. 20: Iss. 1, Article 5. https://doi.org/10.7710/ 1526-0569.1629 Essays in Philosophy is a biannual journal published by Pacific nivU ersity Library | ISSN 1526-0569 | http://commons.pacificu.edu/eip/ Essays in Philosophy ISSN 1526-0569 | Essays in Philosophy is published by the Pacific University Libraries Volume 20, Issue 1 (2019) Antinatalism and Moral Particularism Gerald K. Harrison Massey University Abstract I believe most acts of human procreation are immoral, and I believe this despite also believing in the truth of moral particularism. In this paper I explain why. I argue that procreative acts possess numerous features that, in other contexts, seem typically to operate with negative moral valences. Other things being equal this gives us reason to believe they will operate negatively in the context of procreative acts as well. However, most people’s intuitions represent procreative acts to be morally permissible in most circumstances. Given moral particularism, this would normally be good evidence that procreative acts are indeed morally permissible and that the features that operate negatively elsewhere, simply do not do so in the context of procreative acts in particular. But I argue that we have no good reason to think our intuitions about the ethics of human procreation are accurate. -
Iv. Causal Interactions of Consciousness, Unconscious Mind and Brain1
IV. CAUSAL INTERACTIONS OF CONSCIOUSNESS, UNCONSCIOUS MIND AND BRAIN1 MAX VELMANS 1. WHAT NEEDS TO BE EXPLAINED The potential effect of the mind on the body is also taken for granted in psychosomatic medicine. But how the conscious mind exercises its influ- ence is not easy to understand. In principle, there are four distinct ways in which body/brain and mind/consciousness might enter into causal relation- ships. There might be physical causes of physical states, physical causes of mental states, mental causes of mental states, and mental causes of physical states. Establishing which forms of causation are effective in practice is important, not just for a deeper understanding of mind/body interactions, but also for the proper treatment of some forms of illness and disease. Within conventional medicine, physicalÆphysical causation is taken for granted. Consequently, the proper treatment for physical disorders is assumed to be some form of physical intervention. Psychiatry takes the efficacy of physicalÆmental causation for granted, along with the assump- tion that the proper treatment for psychological disorders may involve psychoactive drugs, neurosurgery and so on. Many forms of psychotherapy take mentalÆmental causation for granted, and assume that psychological disorders can be alleviated by means of “talking cures”, guided imagery, hypnosis and other forms of mental intervention. Psychosomatic medicine assumes that mentalÆphysical causation can be effective. Consequently, under some circumstances, a physical disorder (for example, hysterical paralysis) may require a mental (psychotherapeutic) intervention. Given the extensive evidence for all these causal interactions (cf. readings in Velmans 1996a), how are we to make sense of them? 2. -
Whole-Brain Models to Explore Altered States of Consciousness from the Bottom Up
brain sciences Review Whole-Brain Models to Explore Altered States of Consciousness from the Bottom Up Rodrigo Cofré 1,* , Rubén Herzog 2 , Pedro A.M. Mediano 3 , Juan Piccinini 4,5, Fernando E. Rosas 6,7,8 , Yonatan Sanz Perl 4,9 and Enzo Tagliazucchi 4,5 1 CIMFAV-Ingemat, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso 2340000, Chile 2 Centro Interdisciplinario de Neurociencia de Valparaíso, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso 2360103, Chile; [email protected] 3 Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK; [email protected] 4 National Scientific and Technical Research Council, Buenos Aires C1033AAJ, Argentina; [email protected] (J.P.); [email protected] (Y.S.P.); [email protected] (E.T.) 5 Buenos Aires Physics Institute and Physics Department, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires C1428EGA, Argentina 6 Centre for Psychedelic Research, Department of Brain Science, Imperial College London, London SW7 2DD, UK; [email protected] 7 Data Science Institute, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK 8 Centre for Complexity Science, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK 9 Departamento de Matemáticas y Ciencias, Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires B1644BID, Argentina * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 26 July 2020; Accepted: 7 September 2020; Published: 10 September 2020 Abstract: The scope of human consciousness includes states departing from what most of us experience as ordinary wakefulness. These altered states of consciousness constitute a prime opportunity to study how global changes in brain activity relate to different varieties of subjective experience. We consider the problem of explaining how global signatures of altered consciousness arise from the interplay between large-scale connectivity and local dynamical rules that can be traced to known properties of neural tissue. -
Velmans, Max and Nagasawa, Yujin. 2012. Introduction to Monist Alternatives to Physicalism
Velmans, Max and Nagasawa, Yujin. 2012. Introduction to Monist Alternatives to Physicalism. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 19(9-10), pp. 7-18. ISSN 1355-8250 [Article] https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/26069/ The version presented here may differ from the published, performed or presented work. Please go to the persistent GRO record above for more information. If you believe that any material held in the repository infringes copyright law, please contact the Repository Team at Goldsmiths, University of London via the following email address: [email protected]. The item will be removed from the repository while any claim is being investigated. For more information, please contact the GRO team: [email protected] 1 Introduction to Monist Alternatives to Physicalism Max Velmans and Yujin Nagasawa In M. Velmans & Y. Nagasawa (eds.) (2012) Journal of Consciousness Studies: Special Issue on Monist Alternatives to Physicalism, Vol. 19, No. 9-10, 7-18. In the history of Western thought, attempts to understand the relationship of mind and consciousness to body and brain have largely been shaped by competing monist versus dualist convictions about whether these are different types of entity or process. Bodies and brains seem to be very different from minds and consciousness. Arms and legs for example seem to be made of completely different “stuff” to thoughts and feelings. Nor can one find qualia by examining bits of the brain. Consequently, dualists argue that body/brain and mind/consciousness are different types of thing. There is also extensive evidence that the body and brain affect mind and consciousness via the senses (for example that the visual system affects visual experience) and that mind and consciousness affect the body and brain (for example in the way that visual experiences, thoughts, and conscious choices influence subsequent actions). -
Cryopreservation Page 3
2nd quarter 2010 • Volume 31:2 funding Your Cryopreservation page 3 Death of Robert Prehoda Page 7 Member Profile: Mark Plus page 8 Non-existence ISSN 1054-4305 is Hard to Do page 14 $9.95 Improve Your Odds of a Good Cryopreservation You have your cryonics funding and contracts in place but have you considered other steps you can take to prevent problems down the road? Keep Alcor up-to-date about personal and medical changes. Update your Alcor paperwork to reflect your current wishes. Execute a cryonics-friendly Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. Wear your bracelet and talk to your friends and family about your desire to be cryopreserved. Ask your relatives to sign Affidavits stating that they will not interfere with your cryopreservation. Attend local cryonics meetings or start a local group yourself. Contribute to Alcor’s operations and research. Contact Alcor (1-877-462-5267) and let us know how we can assist you. Alcor Life Extension Foundation is on Connect with Alcor members and supporters on our official Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/alcor.life.extension.foundation Become a fan and encourage interested friends, family members, and colleagues to support us too. 2ND QUARTER 2010 • VOLUME 31:2 2nd quarter 2010 • Volume 31:2 Contents COVER STORY: PAGE 3 funding Your Cryopreservation Without bequests and page 3 donations Alcor’s revenue falls 11 Book Review: The short of covering its operating Rational Optimist: How expenses. This means that Prosperity Evolves Alcor should further cut costs Former Alcor President or increase revenue. -
Superintelligence As a Cause Or Cure for Risks of Astronomical Suffering
Informatica 41 (2017) 389–400 389 Superintelligence as a Cause or Cure for Risks of Astronomical Suffering Kaj Sotala and Lukas Gloor Foundational Research Institute, Berlin, Germany E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] foundational-research.org Keywords: existential risk, suffering risk, superintelligence, AI alignment problem, suffering-focused ethics, population ethics Received: August 31, 2017 Discussions about the possible consequences of creating superintelligence have included the possibility of existential risk, often understood mainly as the risk of human extinction. We argue that suffering risks (s-risks), where an adverse outcome would bring about severe suffering on an astronomical scale, are risks of a comparable severity and probability as risks of extinction. Preventing them is the common interest of many different value systems. Furthermore, we argue that in the same way as superintelligent AI both contributes to existential risk but can also help prevent it, superintelligent AI can be both the cause of suffering risks and a way to prevent them from being realized. Some types of work aimed at making superintelligent AI safe will also help prevent suffering risks, and there may also be a class of safeguards for AI that helps specifically against s-risks. Povzetek: Prispevek analizira prednosti in nevarnosti superinteligence. 1 Introduction Work discussing the possible consequences of creating We term the possibility of such outcomes a suffering superintelligent AI (Yudkowsky 2008, Bostrom 2014, risk: Sotala & Yampolskiy 2015) has discussed Suffering risk (s-risk): One where an adverse superintelligence as a possible existential risk: a risk outcome would bring about severe suffering on "where an adverse outcome would either annihilate an astronomical scale, vastly exceeding all Earth-originating intelligent life or permanently and suffering that has existed on Earth so far. -
Nihilism, Transcendence and Philosophy." Philosophy in a Meaningless Life: a System of Nihilism, Consciousness and Reality
Tartaglia, James. "Nihilism, Transcendence and Philosophy." Philosophy in a Meaningless Life: A System of Nihilism, Consciousness and Reality. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015. 169–184. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 28 Sep. 2021. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781474247696.ch-008>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 28 September 2021, 17:13 UTC. Copyright © James Tartaglia 2016. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. 8 Nihilism, Transcendence and Philosophy [W]hen I say, magnanimously, ‘all metaphysical positions are equally good’, I am not taking any position; I am simply expressing a principle of tolerance which, however laudable, is merely formal, and can never produce or even encourage any metaphysi- cal idea. But if I try to combine this principle with my particular position, I become incoherent, because what I then end up saying is, ‘my position is as good as any other, even though it is incompatible with any other.’ Leszek Kołakowski, 1988 1 1. Living with nihilism Superstition reveals a primitive sense of a metaphysical appearance/reality distinction. Thus the superstitious person senses that things might have a different significance to that provided by the framework, and so clings irrationally to idle possibilities, providing them with inappropriate significance. They think that if they touch wood, or wear this shirt rather than that one, then things will turn out as they want them to. They could only be right if life is quite unlike what it appears on the surface. -
Procreation Is a Murder: the Case for Voluntary Human Extinction
Procreation Is a Murder -The Case for Voluntary Human Extinction by Anti Procreation If destruction is violence, creation, too, is violence. Procreation, therefore, involves violence. The creation of what is bound to perish certainly involves violence. -Mahatma Gandhi !1 The Anti-natalist Manifesto1 We were forcefully brought into existence even though we weren’t asked to be born, nor consented thereto. This is unsolicited. Our parents brought us into existence knowing that every human dies very well, without a shadow of guilt. How can’t procreation with knowledge it would lead to death sooner or later, well within 130 years a murder?2 Even if we choose not to call it a murder, it’s because it’s more heinous crime, not less heinous crime than murder. Murder only make death happen a few decades earlier of somebody who was condemned to death by procreation; whereas procreation condemns nonexistent person to life and death, making the victim suffer up to about 120 years and die.3 If 1 This manifesto have been published on Reddit /r/antinatalism and Amazon Kindle Store under the pen name ‘antiprocreation’, I edited a little bit for this book 2 https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index? qid=20070815053516AAwtavs 3 Crisp, Quentin S, ANTINATALISM: A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT, Living In The Future, Issue 2, http://www.litfmag.net/issue-2/anti-natalism-a- thought-experiment/ !2 murder is a crime, procreation is a sin.4 The consequence of every procreation is fatal and tragic.5 Every maternity ward is a crematorium.6 Lack of capacity to give consent do not mean somebody can inflict any action to the person that lacks the capacity to give informed consent. -
A Defense of a Sentiocentric Approach to Environmental Ethics
University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2012 Minding Nature: A Defense of a Sentiocentric Approach to Environmental Ethics Joel P. MacClellan University of Tennessee, Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation MacClellan, Joel P., "Minding Nature: A Defense of a Sentiocentric Approach to Environmental Ethics. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2012. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/1433 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Joel P. MacClellan entitled "Minding Nature: A Defense of a Sentiocentric Approach to Environmental Ethics." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Philosophy. John Nolt, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Jon Garthoff, David Reidy, Dan Simberloff Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) MINDING NATURE: A DEFENSE OF A SENTIOCENTRIC APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Joel Patrick MacClellan August 2012 ii The sedge is wither’d from the lake, And no birds sing. -
Feminist Philosophy Quarterly
Feminist Philosophy Quarterly Volume 1 | Issue 2 Article 3 2015 Queer Earth Mothering: Thinking Through The Biological Paradigm of Motherhood Justin Morris McMaster University, [email protected] Recommended Citation Morris, Justin. 2015. "Queer Earth Mothering: Thinking Through the Biological Paradigm of Motherhood."Feminist Philosophy Quarterly1, (2). Article 3. doi:10.5206/fpq/2015.2.3. Morris: Queer Earth Mothering Queer Earth Mothering: Thinking Through the Biological Paradigm of Motherhood1 Justin Morris Abstract I consider Christine Overall’s (2012) proposal that counteracting the ecological threats born from overconsumption and overpopulation morally obligates (most) Westerners to limit their procreative output to one child per person. I scrutinize what Overall finds valuable about the genetic link in the parent- child relationship through the complementary lenses of Shelley M. Park’s (2013) project of “queering motherhood” and the ecofeminist concept of “earth mothering.” What comes of this theoretical mix is a procreative outlook I define as queer earth mothering (QEM): an interrogative attitude for identifying the ways in which anti-ecological and heteronormative ideologies seep into maternal praxis. I argue that QEM has potential to relocate the value(s) of the putative parent-child relationship, change attitudes toward adoptive motherhood for the better, and shed light on the reality that procreative decisions in affluent contexts can and will rebound with devastating environmental consequences on both present and future populations if left unabated. My hope is that with QEM as our guide for thinking through the biological paradigm of motherhood we will be in a much better position to appreciate why affluent prospective parents should (generally speaking) favour adoption over biological reproduction. -
Global Workspace Theory: a Prominent Scientific Approach to the Nature of Consciousness
RESEARCH PAPER Philosophy Volume : 3 | Issue : 9 | Sept 2013 | ISSN - 2249-555X Global Workspace Theory: A Prominent Scientific Approach to the Nature of Consciousness KEYWORDS Global work space, modularity, hard problem, multiple draft model Dr. Sheeja O.K Lecturer (on Contract), Dept. of Philosophy, University of Calicut, Calicut University P.O, Malappuram (Dt) Kerala-673 635. ABSTRACT The objective of this paper is to present one prominent scientific approach to consciousness by Bernard J. Baars- the Global workspace Theory (GWT). Global Workspace Theory holds the view that the brain has a fleeting integrative capacity that enables access between functions that are otherwise separate. Consciousness is the pri- mary agent of such a global access function in humans and other mammals. GW holds the view that the role of conscious- ness is to facilitate information exchange among multiple specialized unconscious processes in the brain. Consciousness is a state of global activation in a “workspace”. Somewhat similar idea has been introduced by Jerry Fodor. Fodor has placed greatest emphasis on information encapsulation. But there are some criticisms too. GWT does not answer the hard problem of consciousness. And Dennett doubts whether GWT is a “Cartesian Theatre”. However, Baar’s account of global workspace is a promising scientific approach in explaining consciousness. brain sources; unconscious sensory processing is much The problem of consciousness is not just one problem. Rather more limited. it is an ambiguous term referring to many different Phenome- 2. Consciousness perception, inner speech and visual Im- na. These problems can be divided under two headings hard agery enable working memory functions including ex- and easy problems. -
Child-Focused Arguments Against Procreation
Child-focused Arguments Against Procreation Andrew Pearson Central European University Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Master’s Degree in Philosophy Supervisor: Simon Rippon CEU eTD Collection [Type here] Acknowledgements I wish to thank the following people for questions and conversations relating to antinatalism and previous drafts of this essay: Hanoch Ben-Yami, Emma Bullock, Sam Dumitriu, Daniel Hanson Dzah, Philip Goff, Mike Griffin, Marek Iwaniak, Yuk-Pui Lam, Brian McLean, Andres Moles, Laura Nicoara, Jasmine Opie, Edi Pavlovic, José Ricon, Simon Rippon, Andrew Sabisky, Ben Southwood, and David Weberman. Furthermore, I wish to thank José Ricon, Liam Shields, and Simon Rippon for comments on previous drafts and sections of this essay. Given the subject matter and my pro-natalist conclusions, it would perhaps also be appropriate to thank my parents, Tim and Karen Pearson, for bringing me into existence. Beyond that, I thank them for their support - emotional and otherwise - during my time studying for this degree. CEU eTD Collection i Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1 The Asymmetry Argument ....................................................................................................................... 3 Terminology and Conceptual Clarification ............................................................................................ 3 Optimistic Asymmetries