The Illusion of Conscious Will

The Illusion of Conscious Will PDF

Author: Daniel M. Wegner

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2003-08-11

Total Pages: 725

ISBN-13: 0262290553

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A novel contribution to the age-old debate about free will versus determinism. Do we consciously cause our actions, or do they happen to us? Philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, theologians, and lawyers have long debated the existence of free will versus determinism. In this book Daniel Wegner offers a novel understanding of the issue. Like actions, he argues, the feeling of conscious will is created by the mind and brain. Yet if psychological and neural mechanisms are responsible for all human behavior, how could we have conscious will? The feeling of conscious will, Wegner shows, helps us to appreciate and remember our authorship of the things our minds and bodies do. Yes, we feel that we consciously will our actions, Wegner says, but at the same time, our actions happen to us. Although conscious will is an illusion, it serves as a guide to understanding ourselves and to developing a sense of responsibility and morality. Approaching conscious will as a topic of psychological study, Wegner examines the issue from a variety of angles. He looks at illusions of the will—those cases where people feel that they are willing an act that they are not doing or, conversely, are not willing an act that they in fact are doing. He explores conscious will in hypnosis, Ouija board spelling, automatic writing, and facilitated communication, as well as in such phenomena as spirit possession, dissociative identity disorder, and trance channeling. The result is a book that sidesteps endless debates to focus, more fruitfully, on the impact on our lives of the illusion of conscious will.

The Conscious Closet

The Conscious Closet PDF

Author: Elizabeth L. Cline

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2019-08-20

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 1524744301

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From journalist, fashionista, and clothing resale expert Elizabeth L. Cline, “the Michael Pollan of fashion,”* comes the definitive guide to building an ethical, sustainable wardrobe you'll love. Clothing is one of the most personal expressions of who we are. In her landmark investigation Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, Elizabeth L. Cline first revealed fast fashion’s hidden toll on the environment, garment workers, and even our own satisfaction with our clothes. The Conscious Closet shows exactly what we can do about it. Whether your goal is to build an effortless capsule wardrobe, keep up with trends without harming the environment, buy better quality, seek out ethical brands, or all of the above, The Conscious Closet is packed with the vital tools you need. Elizabeth delves into fresh research on fashion’s impacts and shows how we can leverage our everyday fashion choices to change the world through style. Inspired by her own revelatory journey getting off the fast-fashion treadmill, Elizabeth shares exactly how to build a more ethical wardrobe, starting with a mindful closet clean-out and donating, swapping, or selling the clothes you don't love to make way for the closet of your dreams. The Conscious Closet is not just a style guide. It is a call to action to transform one of the most polluting industries on earth—fashion—into a force for good. Readers will learn where our clothes are made and how they’re made, before connecting to a global and impassioned community of stylish fashion revolutionaries. In The Conscious Closet, Elizabeth shows us how we can start to truly love and understand our clothes again—without sacrificing the environment, our morals, or our style in the process. *Michelle Goldberg, Newsweek/The Daily Beast

Conscious

Conscious PDF

Author: Annaka Harris

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2019-06-04

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 0062906739

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "If you’ve ever wondered how you have the capacity to wonder, some fascinating insights await you in these pages.” --Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals As concise and enlightening as Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, this mind-expanding dive into the mystery of consciousness is an illuminating meditation on the self, free will, and felt experience. What is consciousness? How does it arise? And why does it exist? We take our experience of being in the world for granted. But the very existence of consciousness raises profound questions: Why would any collection of matter in the universe be conscious? How are we able to think about this? And why should we? In this wonderfully accessible book, Annaka Harris guides us through the evolving definitions, philosophies, and scientific findings that probe our limited understanding of consciousness. Where does it reside, and what gives rise to it? Could it be an illusion, or a universal property of all matter? As we try to understand consciousness, we must grapple with how to define it and, in the age of artificial intelligence, who or what might possess it. Conscious offers lively and challenging arguments that alter our ideas about consciousness—allowing us to think freely about it for ourselves, if indeed we can.

The Conscious Mind

The Conscious Mind PDF

Author: Zoltan Torey

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2014-08-08

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 0262527103

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An account of the emergence of the mind: how the brain acquired self-awareness, functional autonomy, the ability to think, and the power of speech. How did the human mind emerge from the collection of neurons that makes up the brain? How did the brain acquire self-awareness, functional autonomy, language, and the ability to think, to understand itself and the world? In this volume in the Essential Knowledge series, Zoltan Torey offers an accessible and concise description of the evolutionary breakthrough that created the human mind. Drawing on insights from evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and linguistics, Torey reconstructs the sequence of events by which Homo erectus became Homo sapiens. He describes the augmented functioning that underpins the emergent mind—a new (“off-line”) internal response system with which the brain accesses itself and then forms a selection mechanism for mentally generated behavior options. This functional breakthrough, Torey argues, explains how the animal brain's “awareness” became self-accessible and reflective—that is, how the human brain acquired a conscious mind. Consciousness, unlike animal awareness, is not a unitary phenomenon but a composite process. Torey's account shows how protolanguage evolved into language, how a brain subsystem for the emergent mind was built, and why these developments are opaque to introspection. We experience the brain's functional autonomy, he argues, as free will. Torey proposes that once life began, consciousness had to emerge—because consciousness is the informational source of the brain's behavioral response. Consciousness, he argues, is not a newly acquired “quality,” “cosmic principle,” “circuitry arrangement,” or “epiphenomenon,” as others have argued, but an indispensable working component of the living system's manner of functioning.

The Conscious Creative

The Conscious Creative PDF

Author: Kelly Small

Publisher: House of Anansi

Published: 2020-08-04

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 1487008031

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An actionable guide to mindfulness and practical ethics for any creative professional who wants to make a living without selling their soul. It can be difficult to live according to our values in a complicated world. At a time when capitalism seems most unforgiving but the need for paying work remains high, it is important to learn how we can be more mindful and intentional about our impact — personal, social, economic, and environmental. As designer and creative director Kelly Small had to do to navigate a crisis of ethics and burnout in their career in advertising, we can admit our complicity in problematic systems and take on the responsibility of letting our own conscience guide our decisions. Start with one or many of these 100+ rigorously researched, ultra-practical action steps: Co-create and collaborate Get obsessed with accessibility Demand diverse teams Commit to self-care Make ethics a competitive edge Be mindful of privilege Create for empowerment, not exploitation With a humorous and irreverent tone, Small reveals how when we release unnecessary judgement and become action-oriented, we can clarify the complicated business of achieving an ethical practice in the creative industries. Discover the power of incremental, positive changes in our daily work-lives and the fulfillment of purposeful work.

The Conscious Parent's Guide to Gender Identity

The Conscious Parent's Guide to Gender Identity PDF

Author: Darlene Tando

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2016-07-01

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 144059631X

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If your child is questioning their gender identity, you may have questions of your own. The Conscious Parent's Guide to Gender Identity helps answer those questions, providing a relationship-oriented approach to supporting your child's journey. Conscious parenting means being present with your children and taking the time to understand their point of view. Using this mindful method, you can support and guide your children as they discover their authentic selves. With this easy-to-navigate guide, you'll learn how to... Communicate openly with your child about gender identity Empower your child to make their own decisions Create a welcoming environment at home Guide your child through social and medical transitions Help your child feel comfortable with friends, at school, and in your community Deal with others' opinions about your parenting choices Plan a happy, successful future for you and your child This mindful method of parenting will allow you and your children to strengthen your bond while allowing them to be who they truly are.

The Conscious Brain

The Conscious Brain PDF

Author: Jesse J. Prinz

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-08-17

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 019971813X

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The problem of consciousness continues to be a subject of great debate in cognitive science. Synthesizing decades of research, The Conscious Brain advances a new theory of the psychological and neurophysiological correlates of conscious experience. Prinz's account of consciousness makes two main claims: first consciousness always arises at a particular stage of perceptual processing, the intermediate level, and, second, consciousness depends on attention. Attention changes the flow of information allowing perceptual information to access memory systems. Neurobiologically, this change in flow depends on synchronized neural firing. Neural synchrony is also implicated in the unity of consciousness and in the temporal duration of experience. Prinz also explores the limits of consciousness. We have no direct experience of our thoughts, no experience of motor commands, and no experience of a conscious self. All consciousness is perceptual, and it functions to make perceptual information available to systems that allows for flexible behavior. Prinz concludes by discussing prevailing philosophical puzzles. He provides a neuroscientifically grounded response to the leading argument for dualism, and argues that materialists need not choose between functional and neurobiological approaches, but can instead combine these into neurofunctional response to the mind-body problem. The Conscious Brain brings neuroscientific evidence to bear on enduring philosophical questions, while also surveying, challenging, and extending philosophical and scientific theories of consciousness. All readers interested in the nature of consciousness will find Prinz's work of great interest.

The Conscious Parent

The Conscious Parent PDF

Author: Shefali Tsabary

Publisher: Yellow Kite

Published: 2015-01-15

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781473619388

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Shefali Tsabary's invaluable book shows how the challenges of parenting can become a great opportunity for spiritual awakening.

The Conscious Warrior

The Conscious Warrior PDF

Author: Shannon McQuaide

Publisher: Fire Engineering Books

Published: 2022-03-08

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 1593704399

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Shannon McQuaide combines her personal experiences, interviews with firefighters and research on yoga and mindfulness in this new inspiring book. Growing up in a firefighter family, she understands the physical and emotional toll the job can have on firefighters and their families. From the science behind how these practices work to the beautiful illustrations and step-by-step instructions, this book will motivate both beginners and veteran practitioners alike. McQuaide’s FireFlex Yoga classes are specifically created for first responders to enhance their mental and physical health and improve their job performance while releasing their true inner warrior. WHAT THEY ARE SAYING: "This is more than 'yoga' training, this is well-rounded resiliency training. - CAL Fire Training Chief Rob Wheatley "I am going to bring mindfulness into SCBA drills and also the PT warm-up/cool-down drills." - CAL Fire Training Captain Daniel Cunningham FEATURES: --The most up-to-date benefits of yoga for first responders --More than 50 beautifully illustrated postures, with instructions and specific applications related to the physical duties of a firefighter --Simple, easy-to-do mindfulness techniques you can do anywhere

The Conscious Cleanse

The Conscious Cleanse PDF

Author: Jo Schaalman

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2012-12-04

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1615642854

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A simple, sensible 14-day plan for losing weight and healing your body If you're looking for relief from an ailment such as depression, chronic pain, or allergies or are looking to lose weight, but want a natural, flexible way of doing so, then The Conscious Cleanse is the perfect programme for you. In this easy-to-follow 14-day programme, you get a day-by-day plan to filter out harmful foods and guidance on what foods to avoid with optional yoga-based stretches and exercises to incorporate into your programme. Plus, tips to lose weight easily so there's no need to starve yourself as well as meal plans with shopping lists and over 100 delicious recipes. You'll also find techniques and inspiration for continuing a sustainable and vibrant conscious lifestyle after the cleanse is complete. Whether you're looking to shed excess weight or relieve any number of ailments, The Conscious Cleanse will provide a solution that will change your life for good.