Experimental philosophy and the MBI\ud

Various facets of the MBI are discussed, and how it can be used in connection with experimental philosophy, experimental psychology and neuroscience. Brief historical references are given. The large implications of the MBI with regards to McTaggart's paradox and the resolution of the difficulties with quantum mechanics is mentioned. Later sections deal with the mereological fallacy, multiple universes, teletransportation, mind cloning and mind splitting. Dreamwork is chosen as a prime example of the use of the MBI and recent work by Tononi and Baars is referred to.\u

Into the Multiverse: Methods for Studying Developmental Neuroscience

One major challenge in developmental neuroscience research is the sheer number of choices researchers face when addressing even a single research question. Even once data collection is complete, the journey from raw data to interpretation of findings may depend on numerous decisions. To address this issue, this dissertation explores “multiverse” analysis techniques for following many analytical paths at once in the same dataset. In chapter 1, multiverses are used to examine which analyses of age-related change in amygdala-medial prefrontal cortex circuitry are robust versus sensitive to researcher decisions. Chapter 2 uses multiverse analysis to identify optimal solutions for mitigating breathing-induced artifacts in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data. Chapter 3 uses a variety of model specifications to characterize simultaneous reward learning strategies in youth contingent on both visual task cues and spatial-motor information. Despite varied approaches and goals, each of the three studies highlight the benefits of conducting multiple parallel analyses for both addressing questions in developmental neuroscience and deepening understanding of the methods used to address them

The Multiverse

The multiverse is a concept that acknowledges the existence of a multiplicity of worlds or universes. The designs of these universes do not have to be the same as our universe, but we have no clear view of what the “other” designs might be. It is suspected that they can obey different laws of physics and different constants of physics, which further implies different chemistry, biology, and life. Some say that the universes within the multiverse allow for different mathematics or even for different metamathematical logic. This book discusses most of the above aspects of the multiverse concept starting with the philosophy, through all the mathematical and physical subtleties, finally exploring the origin of life and consciousness. This book provides a satisfying intellectual exploration of front-edge advances in contemporary cosmology

Matter, man, universe: the ontology of human openness to the cosmic holism

The universe we know is a product of the human mind. In the primordial phenomenological experience, which man has of himself, two phenomenological facts are imposed: the experience of a stable world of objects and the experience of a world of fields of reality. The exercise of reason, which is given to man evolutionarily, leads to ask what are the real causes that produce these two worlds. Likewise, what is the ultimate truth of the universe. Modern science produces a rational (scientific) knowledge that provides the basis to answer those questions. Classical mechanics explains what is and how a macroscopic world of stable objects is produced. Quantum mechanics, what they are and how the fields of reality are produced, to which man accesses from his human psyche. All this leads us to understand that the universe has a holistic ontology (a way of being). Man, already by his primordial self-experience, but also by the results of science, remains open to the knowledge of cosmic holism. The holistic nature of the universe is the key to addressing the questions surrounding its ultimate truth. Holism continues to make possible the atheistic hypothesis of a universe without God. But it is also true that, beyond nineteenth-century reductionism, holism makes the hypothesis of the existence of God much more plausible today. As a suggestion, the article concludes with a reference to the image of God, and the creation of the universe in God, according to the allegorical discourse of Jewish kabbalah

Systemic therapy – A practical implementation of systemic thinking

A summary presentation of the historic development of systemic therapy as the follow-up to family therapies, with the usage of new metatheoretical thinking from the constructivist point of view is followed by a description of the material theoretical conditions of this psychotherapeutic approach, with particular consideration for the theories of cognition and autopoiesis by Chilean biologist Humberto Maturana as well as the sociological system theory according to German sociologist Niklas Luhmann. This is followed by an understanding of interaction systems with respect to the theory of therapy, as developed by the author – the member concept, as well as a system-theoretical adequate conceptualisation of psychical systems. The work ends with a short presentation of the implementation of the described theoretical concepts in systemic therapy practice.A summary presentation of the historic development of systemic therapy as the follow-up to family therapies, with the usage of new metatheoretical thinking from the constructivist point of view is followed by a description of the material theoretical conditions of this psychotherapeutic approach, with particular consideration for the theories of cognition and autopoiesis by Chilean biologist Humberto Maturana as well as the sociological system theory according to German sociologist Niklas Luhmann. This is followed by an understanding of interaction systems with respect to the theory of therapy, as developed by the author – the member concept, as well as a system-theoretical adequate conceptualisation of psychical systems. The work ends with a short presentation of the implementation of the described theoretical concepts in systemic therapy practice

Multiverse analyses in the classroom

Multivariate analysis of psychological dat