The essay brings a summation of human efforts seeking to understand our existence. Plato and Kant & cognitive science complete reduction of philosophy to a neural mechanism, evolved along elementary Darwinian principles. Plato in his famous Cave Allegory explains that between reality and our experience of it there exists a great chasm, a metaphysical gap, fully confirmed through particle-wave duality of quantum physics. Kant found that we have two kinds of perception, two senses: By the spatial outer sense we perceive (...) phenomena, objects in space. Our temporal inner sense lets us perceive our inner state, noumena . Kant's two senses are fully confirmed through bilateral brain duality of cognitive science. The bilateral brain serves inner, temporal sense, logic & noumena in the left hemisphere. The right brain half is for the outer, spatial sense, geometry & phenomena. We form a whole system, a bilateral interior cosmos, a kind of world model, expressing what may lie beyond the metaphysical gap. In the right brain we build a phenomenal cosmos, to resemble the outer environment. In the brain's left hemisphere a noumenal cosmos, a model of our private world including Saint Teresa of Avila's castillo interior. The cosmos is regularly updated with novel sense data integrated into our memory banks. This was recognized early by Helmholtz (1860s). Our lives, health & well-being depend on us keeping our interior cosmos in good order. This used to be seen as saving one's precious soul from perdition. While we endeavour to keep our phenomenal cosmos neat & orderly by protecting the environment from harm, our noumenal cosmos to be livable requires us to engage in ethical conduct. This bilateral cosmos is responsible for our common sense judgment power, that we depend on for being able to lead a good & benign life. The 200 million neurons of BA10 in the prefrontal lobe have global access to the interior cosmos, & apply massive feedback to identify environmental conditions rapidly. The global access also gives conscious presence of the individual to itself, all that is present in the interior cosmos, for total freedom of action. In the left brain private ego, we are guarded by faith in divine mercy, & guided to choose the best course of action, able to survive under the most adverse conditions. For this, we receive directions from the Holy Ghost in Saint Teresa's castillo interior. (shrink)

Hermann von Helmholtz was a leading figure of nineteenth-century European intellectual life, remarkable even among the many scientists of the period for the range and depth of his interests. A pioneer of physiology and physics, he was also deeply concerned with the implications of science for philosophy and culture. From the 1850s to the 1890s, Helmholtz delivered more than two dozen popular lectures, seeking to educate the public and to enlighten the leaders of European society and governments about the (...) potential benefits of science and technology to a developing modern society. David Cahan has selected fifteen of these lectures, which reflect the wide range of topics of crucial importance to Helmholtz and his audiences. Among the subjects discussed are the origins of the planetary system, the relation of natural science to science in general, the aims and progress of the physical sciences, the problems of perception, and academic freedom in German universities. This collection also includes Helmholtz's fascinating lectures on the relation of optics to painting and the physiological causes of harmony in music, which provide insight into the relations between science and aesthetics. Science and Culture makes available again Helmholtz's eloquent arguments on the usefulness, benefits, and, intellectual pleasures of understanding the natural world. With Cahan's Introduction to set these essays in their broader context, this collection makes an important contribution to the philosophical and intellectual history of Europe at a time when science played an increasingly significant role in social, economic, and cultural life. (shrink)

In his De Iside et Osiride, Plutarch writes: "The Chaldaeans call two of the planets, which they consider benign gods, the authors or sources of everything that is good, two, on the other hand, the authors or sources of everything that is evil, and the three remaining planets they regard as being 'in between,' participating in the two opposite qualities.... It is worthwhile also to observe that the [Greek] philosophers are in accord with the Chaldaeans. For this reason Heraclitus [of (...) Ephesus] declared 'war the father, king and ruler of everything....' After him Empedocles designates the benign principle as 'love and friendship,' and at times as 'the harmony of the serene eye,' while at the same time he defines the evil principle as 'the cursed discord' and 'the bloody struggle....' Aristotle [by following this tradition] proclaims the [principle of] form and [the principle of] privation....". (shrink)

This study utilizes social exchange theory to argue that a more complete picture of the effects of China’s FDI in Africa needs to include non-economic factors, especially institutional forces that incorporate macro political considerations. We propose that economic dependencies created by China’s FDI in Africa are reciprocated by votes in international organizations, and thus, we hypothesize and test that increasing China’s FDI in African nations leads to increased political alignment in international affairs with those African nations. The proposed relationship, however, (...) will be weakened for African countries with stronger governance mechanisms. Using data for China’s FDI in African countries from 2001–2019, we find support for our hypotheses. We find that China’s economic engagement in Africa has resulted in increased political alignment on international issues evidenced by votes in United Nations organizations raising the possibility Africa’s most attractive resource may not be economic, but rather political. This, however, poses the question of whether votes are a ‘resource’ that can be traded for economic purposes. (shrink)