Psychedelic Unselfing and Moral Perception : A Philosophical Account of the Change of Values Induced by Psychedelic Experiences

Scientific and scholarly attention to psychedelics has recently faced a resurgence. Recent studies suggest that psychedelic experiences can change values and behavioral dispositions, for example increase appreciation of nature and increase prosocial behavior. For this reason psychedelics have been identified as a promising option for moral neuroenhancement. However, we still struggle to understand these changes in the valuations psychedelics induce, or why exactly they are morally enhancing. In this thesis I construct a philosophical framework to understand these changes. I combine Iris Murdoch and Abraham Maslow’s thinking with empirical studies on psychedelics and experiences of self-transcendence. Psychedelics induce experiences of self-transcendence which involve evaluative changes. I argue that these changes are not random but result from an intelligible process. I first claim that psychedelics in some cases induce unselfing, that is, perspectival and evaluative changes resulting from reduction of salience attributed to oneself. By reducing egoic centering, unselfing opens our attention to the world and can cause perspectival widening from egocentric into more allocentric (other-directed) or cosmocentric (universal) perspective. The second main claim is that the process of unselfing is often connected to sharpened perception of values. The increased attention to the world and reduced egocentric attributions of salience, resulting from unselfing, can widen our evaluative context and make it possible to perceive or grasp intrinsic values better, thus ‘tuning the moral compass’ away from instrumental egocentric mode of evaluation. This thesis makes an original contribution to current discussions on moral neuroenhancement by presenting a well-elaborated connection between the experiences of self-transcendence and the evaluative changes. At least some changes in values associated with psychedelic experiences are related to unselfing. Further the framework provided is relevant not only for understanding value changes in psychedelic experiences, but it can be used to understand and to conceptually and theoretically integrate various phenomena which involve unselfing and techniques that aim at spiritual, moral and existential changes. Another original contribution of this thesis is that psychedelic experiences and moral neuroenhancement are discussed with the conceptual means of Murdoch’s and Maslow’s thought

State-bulding and foreign policy : The case of of East Karelia and the role of Finland in Soviet Union foreign policy in 1921-22

Peer reviewe

Suuhygienistin ergonomian toiminnallisia ratkaisuja

Ergonomia on tekniikan ja toiminnan sovittamista ihmiselle. Sen ensisijainen tarkoitus on vähentää työstä aiheutuvaa kuormitusta tuki- ja liikuntaelimistölle. Suuhygienistin työ on fyysisesti kuormittavaa ja nämä fyysisen kuormituksen tekijät tulisi tiedostaa, jotta niitä voi ennaltaehkäistä. Suuhygienistin ergonomian toiminnallisilla ratkaisuilla työssä on tarkoitus vähentää fyysistä kuormitusta. Tämän työn tarkoituksena on selvittää miten ergonomiaa kevennetään toiminnallisilla ratkaisuilla suuhygienistin työssä. Toiminnallisen opinnäytetyön tiedonhankinnan menetelmänä oli sovellettu systemaattinen kirjallisuuskatsaus. Opinnäytetyön tutkimusaineisto haettiin terveysalan kansainvälisistä sekä suomenkielisistä tietokannoista. Aineisto lajiteltiin neljään eri osa-alueeseen, jotka olivat: työympäristötekijät, työvälineet, työasento sekä työtavat. Tulokset keskittyvät fyysiseen ergonomiaan. Suuhygienistin fyysistä ergonomiaa voidaan tulosten mukaan keventää sormituen, luppien sekä satulatuolin käytöllä. Tuloksissa nousi esille miten työssä käytettävät instrumentit, melu, valaistus ja työn tauotus vaikuttavat suuhygienistin ergonomiaan. Tulokset osoittivat, että edellä mainitut toiminnalliset ratkaisut tulisi sisäistää jo suuhygienistin koulutusvaiheessa. Ergonomian kehittäminen ja ylläpitäminen on työntekijän ja työnantajan yhteinen asia. Tarvittaessa tulee tehdä yhteistyötä työterveyshuollon kanssa, jotta fyysisen kuormituksen riskitekijät saadaan kartoitettua mahdollisimman varhaisessa vaiheessa. Niin Suomenkielisiä kuin kansainvälisiäkin tutkimuksia tarvitaan lisää, jotta fyysistä työkuormaa suuhygienistin työssä saataisiin kevennettyä.The ergonomics is the fitting of technique and operation to the human being. Erconomics prima-ry task is to reduce work load and to keep people healthy and working. Dental hygienists work is physically very loading and these factors should be aware of the physical load so they can be prevented. Dental hygienists functional solutions of erconomics meaning is to reduce those things of they´s work. Purpose of this thesis is to reduce dental hygienists functional solutions of erconomics. The method of the acquisition of information of the functional thesis was a literature look. Re-search of this thesis was used international and finnish health databases. The material was sorted into four different sub-areas which where: working envinroment factors, working tools, working posture and work habits. The results focus on this thesis is physical erconomics. Physical erconomics of dental hygienist can be lightened according to the results with: finger support, loupes and with saddle chair. The results also told us how the instruments, noise, lightning and work pausing also affects ergo-nomics for dental hygienist. The results showed that the functional solutions mentioned above should be internalized in the dental hygienist training stage. The developing and maintaining of the ergonomics are the worker´s and the employer´s com-mon matter. If neccessary, should cooperate with occupational health care, in order to obtain physical stress risk factors mapped as early as possible. The finnish and international studies are needed in order to obtain a lighter physical ergonomics of the dental hygienist work

Neighbourhood deprivation in childhood and adulthood and risk of arterial stiffness: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study

PURPOSE: Individual socioeconomic status is associated with increased arterial stiffness, but limited data are available on the relations of neighbourhood deprivation with this vascular measure. We prospectively examined whether neighbourhood deprivation in childhood and adulthood predicts arterial stiffness indicated by pulse wave velocity (PWV). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study population comprised 1,761 participants aged 3-18 years at baseline (1980) from the longitudinal Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns cohort study. PWV was measured in 2007 by whole-body impedance cardiography at ages 30-45 years. Cumulative lifetime neighbourhood deprivation was assessed using data from socioeconomic circumstances in participants' lifetime residential neighbourhoods, categorised as low versus high deprivation. RESULTS: High deprivation in childhood and adulthood was associated with higher PWV in adulthood after adjustment for age, sex, and place of birth (mean difference = 0.57 m/s, 95%CI = 0.26-0.88, P for trend = 0.0004). This association was attenuated but remained statistically significant after further adjustment for childhood parental socioeconomic status and adulthood individual socioeconomic status (mean difference = 0.37 m/s, 95%CI = 0.05-0.70, P for trend 0.048). Also, low individual socioeconomic status in adulthood was associated with higher PWV when adjusted for age, sex, place of birth, parental socioeconomic status in childhood, and lifetime neighbourhood deprivation (mean difference = 0.54 m/s, 95%CI = 0.23-0.84, P for trend 0.0001). CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that lifetime neighbourhood deprivation and low adulthood socioeconomic status are independent risk factors for increased arterial stiffness in adulthood

Cardiometabolic Health Among Adult Offspring of Hypertensive Pregnancies: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

BACKGROUND: Cardiometabolic health among adult offspring of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) is relatively unknown. We hypothesized that offspring of HDP would have abnormalities in the retinal microvasculature and cardiac structure by midadulthood. METHODS AND RESULTS: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study included randomly selected children from 5 Finnish university cities. The mean age of participants was 40 years (range 34-49 years) at the time of retinal photography and cardiac assessment. Offspring born ≥37 weeks of gestation and appropriate for gestational age (n=1006) were included. Offspring of HDP had higher systolic blood pressure (β=4.68, P<0.001), body mass index (β=1.25, P=0.009), and waist circumference (β=0.25, P=0.042), compared with offspring of normotensive pregnancies. However, no differences in fasting glucose, insulin, lipid profile, carotid intima media thickness, or brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation were shown. Retinal arteriolar diameters were narrower (β=-0.43, P=0.009) and longer (β=32.5, P=0.023) and the arteriolar length-to-diameter ratio was higher (β=2.32, P=0.006) among offspring of HDP, after adjustment for age and sex. Left atrial volume indexed to body surface area (β=1.34, P=0.040) was increased. Adjustment for the confounding effects of birth weight, body mass index, smoking and socioeconomic status, and the mediating effect of hypertension had little impact on the associations. CONCLUSIONS: Abnormalities of the retinal microvasculature and cardiac structure are seen in offspring of HDP in midadulthood. These findings may need to be considered in future primary prevention strategies of cardiovascular disease among offspring of HDP

Fine structure of the low-frequency spectra of heart rate and blood pressure

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to explore the principal frequency components of the heart rate and blood pressure variability in the low frequency (LF) and very low frequency (VLF) band. The spectral composition of the R–R interval (RRI) and systolic arterial blood pressure (SAP) in the frequency range below 0.15 Hz were carefully analyzed using three different spectral methods: Fast Fourier transform (FFT), Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD), and autoregression (AR). All spectral methods were used to create time–frequency plots to uncover the principal spectral components that are least dependent on time. The accurate frequencies of these components were calculated from the pole decomposition of the AR spectral density after determining the optimal model order – the most crucial factor when using this method – with the help of FFT and WVD methods. RESULTS: Spectral analysis of the RRI and SAP of 12 healthy subjects revealed that there are always at least three spectral components below 0.15 Hz. The three principal frequency components are 0.026 ± 0.003 (mean ± SD) Hz, 0.076 ± 0.012 Hz, and 0.117 ± 0.016 Hz. These principal components vary only slightly over time. FFT-based coherence and phase-function analysis suggests that the second and third components are related to the baroreflex control of blood pressure, since the phase difference between SAP and RRI was negative and almost constant, whereas the origin of the first component is different since no clear SAP–RRI phase relationship was found. CONCLUSION: The above data indicate that spontaneous fluctuations in heart rate and blood pressure within the standard low-frequency range of 0.04–0.15 Hz typically occur at two frequency components rather than only at one as widely believed, and these components are not harmonically related. This new observation in humans can help explain divergent results in the literature concerning spontaneous low-frequency oscillations. It also raises methodological and computational questions regarding the usability and validity of the low-frequency spectral band when estimating sympathetic activity and baroreflex gain

Suomi Moskovasta nähtynä

The focus of this research is on Finland’s role in Soviet Union’s calculation of its foreign policy between 1920 and 1930. This was the first decade of both Finnish independence and of Soviet power in Russia. This book answers questions about the objectives of Soviet foreign policy in Finland, on the contacts used by the Soviet legation to obtain information, and on how well the Soviets understood Finland’s objectives. People interested in Finland and in Russian perspectives with regards to foreign policy and neighbouring countries will find much new in this book because it relies on formerly unpublished Russian archival material to form the basis for charting Soviet objectives in Finland. The book shows that the Soviets primarily observed Finland in a larger regional context along with other states on its borders in the Baltic Sea region. The global objectives of the revolution and the Soviet Union, but also the domestic political situation in both countries, are reflected on this framework. The period was characterized by forced collectivization in the Soviet Union and, in Finland, by the rise of the right-wing Lapua Movement that emerged at the onset of the Great Depression, laying the foundations for the most severe crisis in the relations during 1929–1930 when the issues surrounding these events destabilized simultaneously the society and political decision-making in both countries

Koherenssin kaipuu

Arvosteltu teos: Karhun kainalossa / Jukka Tarkka. Helsingissä : Otava, 2012