Social Consciousness

Epistemic vices are character traits, attitudes, or thinking styles that prevent us from gaining, keeping, or sharing knowledge. In this book, Quassim Cassam gives an account of the nature and importance of these vices, which include closed-mindedness, intellectual arrogance, wishful thinking, and prejudice. In providing the first extensive coverage of vice epistemology, an exciting new area of philosophical research, Vices of the Mind uses real examples drawn primarily from the world of politics to develop a compelling theory of epistemic vice.

Mindfulness has attracted ever‑growing interest and tens of thousands of practitioners, who have come to the discipline from both within and outside the Buddhist tradition. In Fully Present, leading mindfulness researchers and educators Dr. Sue Smalley and Diana Winston provide an all‑in‑one guide for anyone interested in bringing mindfulness to daily life as a means of enhancing well‑being. This new edition, how with a new afterword, provides both a scientific explanation for how mindfulness positively and powerfully affects the brain and the body.

What makes us who we are? Many think that we are just complicated machines, or animals that are different from machines only by being conscious. Richard Swinburne comes to the defense of the soul and presents new philosophical arguments that are supported by modern neuroscience. When scientific advances enable neuroscientists to transplant a part of brain into a new body, he reasons, no matter how much we can find out about their brain activity or conscious experiences, we will never know whether the resulting person is the same as before or somebody entirely new.

"L'exercice philosophique a pour enjeu l'insaisissable nous privant du délai qui assure la sécurité de la pensée et du discours". Vladimir Jankélévitch. "Rien n'est moins subtil, rien n'est moins systématique au fond que cette vision du monde derrière laquelle se cache une expérience douloureuse. Jamais cette pensée n'est figée, solidifiée dans une rhétorique implacable, au contraire l'oralité confère le jaillissement, la spontanéité, la redite." Françoise Schwab.

Human beings are the greatest natural resource on the planet. If it sometimes doesn’t seem that way, it’s because our inherent wealth is hidden under layers of confusion. Much of what we mistake for reality is really a jumble of the tendencies, attitudes, and preconceptions that are part of our individual human baggage. Although we may understand this, we usually believe our thoughts accurately reflect reality. This hidden assumption is a major cause of confusion, which gives rise to conflicts - in our society, in the larger world, and at times within ourselves.

Today, anxiety is usually thought of as a pathology, the most diagnosed and medicated of all psychological disorders. But anxiety isn't always or only a medical condition. Indeed, many philosophers argue that anxiety is a normal, even essential, part of being human, and that coming to terms with this fact is potentially transformative. In Anxiety, Samir Chopra explores valuable insights about anxiety offered by ancient and modern philosophies. Blending memoir and philosophy, he also tells how serious anxiety has affected his own life—and how philosophy has helped him cope with it.

Ruby Wax - comedian, writer and mental health campaigner - shows us how our minds can jeopardize our sanity. With her own periods of depression and now a Masters from Oxford in Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy to draw from, she explains how our busy, chattering, self-critical thoughts drive us to anxiety and stress. If we are to break the cycle, we need to understand how our brains work, rewire our thinking and find calm in a frenetic world.

Are humans the only dreamers on Earth? What goes on in the minds of animals when they sleep? When Animals Dream brings together behavioral and neuroscientific research on animal sleep with philosophical theories of dreaming. It shows that dreams provide an invaluable window into the cognitive and emotional lives of nonhuman animals, giving us access to a seemingly inaccessible realm of animal experience. The book carries profound implications for debates about animal cognition, animal ethics, and animal rights, challenging us to regard animals as beings who matter.

Soul Machine takes us back to the origins of modernity, a time when a crisis in religious authority and the scientific revolution led to searching questions about the nature of human inner life. This is the story of how a new concept - the mind - emerged as a potential solution, one that was part soul and part machine but fully neither.

Lo que estamos presenciando hoy es la mercantilización directa de nuestras experiencias: en el mercado compramos cada vez menos productos (objetos materiales) que queremos poseer, y adquirimos cada vez más experiencias de vida -experiencias de sexo, gastronomía, comunicación, consumo cultural, que forman parte de un estilo de vida -. No compramos productos por su utilidad ni tampoco como símbolos de estatus; los compramos para obtener la experiencia que nos brindan, los consumimos para hacer que nuestra vida sea más placentera y significativa.

Without consciousness there is nothing. Have you ever wondered why and how the world around you came to exist, and whether there might be an afterlife experience awaiting you after our physical bodies die? Might there actually be a God and a heaven of some sort? The hypothesis presented in this book is that our seemingly physical universe of matter and energy is a virtual simulation which is thought into existence by a universal consciousness which we call God.

Whether you are new to Edgar Cayce or have studied the readings for years, this modern, comprehensive look at his material speaks to where humankind is today in a way that has never before been explored and without the sometimes difficult-to-understand language of the readings. The authors offer new insights and wisdom that is applicable to your life today.

Do you ever feel like a failure? Enter widely acclaimed observer of daily life Professor Joe Moran, not to tell you that everything will be all right in the end, but to reassure you that failure is an occupational hazard of being human. It's the small print in life's terms and conditions. Covering everything from examination dreams to fourth-placed Olympians, If You Should Fail is about how modern life, in a world of self-advertised success, makes us feel like failures, frauds and imposters.

El pintor mexicano más importante de la primera mitad del siglo XX. Sus trabajos y murales representan hoy, el punto más alto del arte contemporáneo no sólo de su país, sino a nivel mundial. Dueño de un espíritu incansable, organizador, pletórico de gracia y elegancia, su obra destaca nítidamente por su idealismo e intolerancia hacia lo que le parece el mal principal de este mundo: la explotación del hombre por el hombre.

In Meditation Now or Never, Steve Hagen, a Zen priest and best-selling author of Buddhism Plain and Simple, provides an accessible and thorough manual on meditation for both newcomers and experienced practitioners. In the modern world, our lives are more frenetic than ever. We live with a burning sense that we have to get something done. But what do we really achieve? And why are we never satisfied? This book is an invitation to switch off and to enjoy stillness - right now.

Realizing your life is pointless is not the motivational advice you might expect—but it could be the advice that sets you free. Sweet Nothing offers an unorthodox and radically liberating approach to creating real peace in your life.

Our sexuality is an integral part of who we are, yet our understanding of sex has been warped by everything from age-old taboos and religious dogma to a popular culture that views sexuality as transactional. With Sex, Health, and Consciousness, Liz Goldwyn, founder of the thriving online platform and podcast The Sex Ed, has created an inclusive, holistic, and much-needed guide to sexual well-being—and the pleasure that’s possible when we embrace our sexuality as a natural part of a healthy human experience.

Michael Linenberger is a relatively normal businessman who for decades managed technology and consulting projects for some of the largest companies in the world. But starting in late 2012, Michael discovered a deep and profound inner silence entering his life that grew stronger and stronger each day. From that silence, a fundamental set of life transformations emerged....

Our ecological, social, and political issues all stem from the ideologies that drive our collective actions. In contrast to our innate humanity, which is rooted in unity, these ideologies have led us to believe that we are separate from each other, separate from nature, and separate from the results of our actions. Such a worldview encourages individuals to maximize self-interest, which then causes fragmentation, conflict, pollution, and the depletion of natural resources.

The Tao Te Ching is a compilation of meditations, comprised of 81 short chapters. Each chapter reflects on the beauty and mystical nature of the Tao (the Way). Tao Te Ching (Book of the Way) is one of the oldest written works that provides advice and guidance on perspective, inner strength, divine power, and moral excellence, among other principles of the universe. This 21st-century edition has been translated so that ancient text (originally written in classical Chinese in the fourth century BC) can be understood and enjoyed by the average listener.