A key topic in the work of Burghard Rieger is the notion of meaning. To explore this notion, he and his collaborators developed a most sophisticated approach combining theoretical ideas and concepts of semiotics with empirical and numerical tools of computational linguistics. In the present contribution, relations of Rieger’s achievements to some issues of interest in the physics and philosophy of complex systems will be addressed.

This essay reflects on 25 years since Christian Bioethics began publication and, in somewhat autobiographical fashion, engages two core concerns. First, although “non-ecumenism” may often appear a pretext for contention and division, I suggest that a respectful non-ecumenism may provide the opportunity for dialogue and the occasion for employing certain tools from religious studies. Second, although many are skeptical about the possibilities of identifying a “common morality,” a defense of that notion provides a plausible explanation for the development of limited (...) consensus on some issues in bioethics. (shrink)

This paper examines the standard conceptualizations of the notion of hallucination in light of various non-ordinary phenomenological patterns associated with altered states of consciousness induced by psychoactive agents. It is argued that in general, the conceptualizations encountered in the literature do not do justice to the richness and complexity that the psychological phenomenology actually exhibits. A close inspection of this phenomenology reveals some pertinent distinctions which are usually not made in the scientific literature. On the one hand, the discussion is (...) based on first-hand experiences and, on the other hand, it is grounded in empirical and theoretical cognitive investigations of the phenomenology of human consciousness. Theoretically, the discussion is grounded in an approach highlighting the centrality of experience, meaning and action in cognition. (shrink)

What is human reason, how did it arise, how is it connected to animal reason? In The Enigma of Reason (ER) Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber (2017) suggest that reason evolved driven by the need to support communication and coordination in small human groups. They contrast this to the idea that the function of reason is to enable humans to make better decisions and develop more accurate beliefs. After a summation of the ER argument, the theory is critiqued and two (...) of their assumptions -- that human cognition is based on massive modularity and that reason co-evolved with and is dependent upon language -- are challenged. Alternatives to these assumptions are presented from the perspective of pattern matching processes in neural dynamical systems, which it is asserted provides a more realistic approach to the functioning of the brain and mind. (shrink)

Modern science developed in the interflow of culture between west and east. Combing of pratice technology with philosophic thoughts formed experimental method. Holistic views contacting atomism produced system theory. System thoughts are applicated in the science and engineering of biosystems, and the cencepts of system biomedicine (Kamada T.1992), systems biology (Zieglgansberger W, Tolle TR.1993), system bioengineering and system genetics (Zeng BJ. 1994) were established. From positive to synthetic thoughts, philosophy have been developed ontology, cosmology, organism theories. Structurity is structure logic (...) system founded on entity, develop, exist axioms, tolerance, adaptation, fluctuate, interweave, transform theorems and integrate, adaptation, construct laws. Structurity be discussed on the cosmos, life, culture system, creation, hologram theories of structure ontology, construct mutation, simi-structure organism and entity emergence, symbol implication. From the relation of structure, function and development, the structurity put forward the cycle, spiral, triangle structure stability patterns of self-organization in structure complement each other and stratification, functional couple and interflow bounds growth, coordinativetransformation and holographic symmetry. (shrink)

El artículo pone de manifiesto, en primer lugar, la escasa bibliografía que existe en español sobre el tema de la ecología en las obras y el pensamiento de san Agustín. Posteriormente, señala los tres peligros que existen al abordar este tema, a saber, el del anacronismo, el de la tergiversación de los textos agustinianos y el de la excesiva espiritualización del tema. Después hace una breve reseña de los aciertos de la obra de Scott Dunham The Trinity and the Creation (...) in Augustine. An ecological analysis, destacando que el Dios creador es el mismo que el Dios trino, y que en el pensamiento agustiniano sobre la creación no está ausente la cristología y la pneumatología. Se presentan a continuación las líneas ecológicas agustinianas, destacando, en primer lugar, la importancia de la Sagrada Escritura en el pensamiento del doctor de Hi¬pona. Luego se pone de manifiesto cómo la creación es comparable a un libro, en el que es preciso leer la presencia y la obra redentora de Dios. Se destaca que la naturaleza tiene un valor sacramental en un sentido lato y por ello su cuidado es necesario. Por otro lado, se muestra la figura del ser humano como un “villicus”, es decir, como el administrador o el guardián de la creación, prolongando en los escritos de san Agustín el mandato bíblico del libro del Génesis. Se señala asimismo la interrelacionalidad de todos los seres en el cosmos, la idea de una creación continuada y la importancia de la conversión ecológica. (shrink)