Four levels of complexity in mathematics and physics are considered, how they are interrelated, how this all has impact on other subjects of epistemology.

G. W. F. Hegel is usually regarded as a/the metaphysician par excellence. However, his thought is multi-faceted and its overarching metaphysical scheme can be viewed as self-deconstructive and containing many elements that represent a non-metaphysical philosophical-epistemological stance. This paper will explore the possibilities of self-overcoming of Hegel’s metaphysics with reference to his understanding of the concept of the absolute as expounded in the Phenomenology of Spirit, especially the Preface. The paper is composed of two main sections from the ontological and (...) epistemological perspectives respectively. The first section deals with Hegel’s groundbreaking understanding of the absolute within the philosophical context of his time, explicating his agreements and disagreements with Spinoza, Kant’s critical philosophy and the post-Kantian philosophy of identity, represented by Fichte and Schelling, and, above all, highlighting Hegel’s own innovations, coming to grips with the intricacies of his thought. The section argues for a trans-immanent (J.-L. Nancy’s neologism) conception of the absolute in the Phenomenology, which means an absolute, opening up from and remaining within the very limits of human reason and worldly immanence, generating itself ad infinitum within its own finite limits. The second section, in turn, suggests a non-metaphysical way of understanding the knowledge of the absolute proposed by Hegel. His epistemological polemics with the Romantics is also considered, after that, disclosing self-deconstructive elements in Hegel’s system, in fact offering a gallery of images of fake, perspectival, relative “absolutes”. (shrink)

A dialog concerning God, Necessity and Perfection. The dialogue between American philosopher Raam Gokhale MPhil and Indian philosopher Kedar Joshi MA takes place at a restaurant in Pune.

A Dialogue Exploring the Philosophical Roles of Myths The following is a dialogue in the Platonic style set in Pune, India 2012. The participants are Raam Gokhale (Ram) who is an MPhil in philosophy, Sushama Karve who is a professor of philosophy at Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapith, a university in Pune and Kedar Joshi who is an MA in philosophy.

This paper is based on the insights of American brain scientist Rhawn Joseph, representing the “panspermia” theory of the origination of life on Earth. The ideas of this paper, admittedly, are imaginary, belonging if not to complete nonsense, then at least to “science fiction” rather than properly scientific inference. If the “seeds of life” are dispersed throughout the universe, elsewhere life might have evolved much further than on Earth. Creatures evolving billions of years longer than humans would immeasurably surpass our (...) neuronal, intellectual and technological capabilities, appearing as gods to us. The “seeds of life” then might be implanted on Earth by highly-developed extraterrestrial beings – gods or God – who may have sown the DNA seeds on Earth from some dimension of the multiverse. Conversely, if humans have been genetically created in “the image of God”, and if the development continues, then perhaps humans have the genetic potential to be “gods”. Humans may continue to develop “in the likeness of God”, as more than 90% of the human genome is inactivated. Still, the question remains: How did life emerge, then developing from simpler organisms to humans and further on to higher beings and gods? Do gods have God? (shrink)

The studies carried out in recent years on the molecular dynamics of consciousness, especially in relation to diseases such as major depression and bipolar disorder, on man considered as a synthesis of nature and culture, in their interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary expression, prompted us to carry out the molecular logic involving the human component of Christ (Christ-Man). On the basis of evidence presented in the Holy Scriptures, regarding the hours that preceded his death, we tend, in the light of the molecular (...) pathway related to mood disorders, to attribute a possible form of depression to Christ-Man, without of course, undermining the faith in the transcendent nature of the Christ-God. (shrink)

Many people think that mathematical models are built using well-known “mathematical things” such as numbers and geometry. But since the 19th century, mathematicians have investigated various non-numerical and non-geometrical structures: groups, fields, sets, graphs, algorithms, categories etc. What could be the most general distinguishing feature that would separate mathematical models from non-mathematical ones? I would describe this feature by using such terms as autonomous, isolated, stable, self-contained, and – as a summary – formal. Autonomous and isolated – because mathematical models (...) can be investigated “on their own” in isolation from the modeled objects. And one can do this for many years without any external information flow. Stable – because any modification of a mathematical model is qualified explicitly as defining a new model. No implicit modifications are allowed. Self- contained – because all properties of a mathematical model must be formulated explicitly. The term “formal model” can be used to summarize all these features. (shrink)

Frege's puzzle about propositional attitude reports is considered. Proposed solution: Every utterance comes from the world model of the speaker, and sometimes it may contain references to (speaker's models of) other world models. More generally, every sentence comes from some kind of world model. It may be the world model of a (real or imagined) person, the world model represented in a novel, movie, scientific book, virtual reality, etc. In principle, even smaller informational units (stories, poems, newspaper articles, jokes, mathematical (...) proofs, video-clips, dreams, halucinations, etc.) may introduce their own “partial world models” – as small additions to “bigger” world models (regarded as background knowledge). Sometimes, sentences contain references to other world models. Trying to understand such sentences, we should identify and keep separated the world models involved. (shrink)

According to quantum physicist Erich Joos the following three issues are the outstanding quantum conundrums of deep significance: 1. The meaning of the wavefunction; 2. The exact nature of the mechanism of the collapse; 3. The connection between the quantum and classical realm. In this paper I shall attempt to elucidate a possible approach to these central issues by drawing parallels between David Bohm’s notion of the implicate order, John Wheeler’s vision of the ‘Participatory Universe’, Henry Stapp’s account of the (...) Heisenberg-von Neumann quantum ‘ontology’, Wojciech Zurek’s ‘Quantum Darwinism’ proposal and the Buddhist Mind-Only (Yogachara–Chittamatra) concept of the alayavijnana, the ground or store consciousness. (shrink)

This is a two part paper. The first part, written somewhat earlier, presented standard processes which cannot so easily be accommodated within what are presently considered as physical type realms. The second part further elaborates on that fact. In particular, it is argued that quantum superposition and entanglement may better be understood in extensions of what we usually consider as physical type realms, realms which, as it happens, have so far never been defined precisely enough.

In the beginning there was prespacetime (GOD) by itself e0 =1 materially empty and spiritually restless. And it began to imagine through primordial self-referential spin such that it created the self-referential Matrix Law, the external object to be observed and internal object as observed, separated them into external world and internal world, caused them to interact through said Matrix Law and thus gave birth to the Universe which it has since passionately loved, sustained and made to evolve. In short, this (...) work is the continuation of our hypothesis of scientific genesis, sustenance & evolution of the Universe and all creations within (the principle of existence). (shrink)

This paper represents a philosophical experiment inspired by the formalist philosophy of mathematics. In the formalist picture of cognition, the principal act of knowledge generation is represented as tentative postulation – as introduction of a new knowledge construct followed by exploration of the consequences that can be derived from it. Depending on the result, the new construct may be accepted as normative, rejected, modified etc. Languages and means of reasoning are generated and selected in a similar process. In the formalist (...) picture, all kinds of “truth” are detected intra-theoretically. Some knowledge construct may be considered as “true”, if it is accepted in a particular normative knowledge system. Some knowledge construct may be considered as persistently true, if it remains invariant during the evolution of some knowledge system for a sufficiently long time. And, if you wish, you may consider some knowledge construct as absolutely true, if you do not intend abandoning it in your knowledge system. And finally, in the formalist picture, all kinds of ontologies generated by humans can be demystified by reconstructing them within the basic solipsist ontology simply as hypothetical branches of it. (shrink)

If we consider modeling not as a heap of contingent structures, but (where possible) as evolving coordinated systems of models, then we can reasonably explain as "direct representations" even some very complicated model-based cognitive situations. Scientific modeling is not as indirect as it may seem. "Direct theorizing" comes later, as the result of a successful model evolution.

The basic difficulties and challenges of Quantum Mind program are analyzed. The conclusion is that the recent form of quantum theory is not enough to overcome the challenges posed by the philosophical problems of quantum physics and quantum mind theories, and the puzzles of quantum biology and quantum neuroscience. Certain anomalies of recent day biology giving hints about how quantum theory should be generalized serve as an introduction to the summary of the aspects of quantum TGD especially relevant to the (...) notion of Quantum Mind. These include the notions of many-sheeted space-time and field (magnetic) body, zero energy ontology, the identification dark matter as a hierarchy of phases with large value of Planck constant, and p-adic physics proposed to define physical correlates for cognition and intentionality. Especially relevant is the number theoretic generalization of Shannon entropy: this entropy is well defined for rational or even algebraic entanglement probabilities and its minimum as a function of the prime defining p-adic norm appearing in the definition of the entropy is negative. Therefore the notion of negentropic entanglement makes sense in the intersection of real and p-adic worlds and is negative: this motivates the proposal that living matter resides in this intersection. TGD inspired theory of consciousness is introduced as a generalization of quantum measurement theory. The notions of quantum jump and self defining the generalization of the notion of observer are introduced and it is argued that the notion of self reduces to that for quantum jump. Negentropy Maximization Principle reproduces standard quantum measurement theory for ordinary entanglement but respects negentropic entanglement so that the outcome of state function reduction is not random for negentropic entanglement. The new view about the relationship of experienced time and geometric time combined with zero energy ontology is claimed to solve the basic philosophical difficulties of quantum measurement theory and consciousness theory. The identification of the quantum correlates of sensory qualia and Boolean cognition, emotions, cognition and intentionality and self-referentiality of consciousness is discussed. (shrink)

The UQV theory is a metaphysical theory that the universe is the consequence of the ultimate questioner’s vanity . This theory builds on the NSTP (Non – Spatial Thinking Process) theoretical metaphysical semi-solipsism, the position, which specifically regards the NSTP theoretical superhuman mind as a personal philosophical questioning supermind. The UQV theory further speculates the existence of the ultimate questioner, which, existing logically/conceptually beyond the superhuman mind, initiated the existence of my NSTP in order to ask an apparently unanswerable (philosophical) (...) question about the nature of its own existence. And since the NSTP is extremely orderly and deterministic, the ultimate questioner already knows if the NSTP would or would not answer the question. Therefore, the theory states that the universe, which includes my NSTP, and possibly the superhuman mind, and even the necessary truths, is the product/consequence of the ultimate questioner’s vanity, the vanity of its own existence and intelligence. The theory is constituted of one postulate, one law, and three conjectures. (shrink)

Our goal is to investigate the biological correlates of the first-person experience of time or phenomenal time. ‘Time’ differs in various domains, such as (i) physical time (e.g., clock time), (ii) biological time, such as the suprachiasmatic nucleus, and (iii) the perceptual rate of time. One psychophysical-measure of the perceptual rate is the critical flicker frequency (CFF), in which a flashing light is perceived as unchanging. Focusing on the inability to detect change, as in CFF, may give us insight into (...) phenomenal time. CFF varies from 24 Hz for dim light and 60 Hz in bright light and is lower for colored lights. We propose that problem of the phenomenal time can be addressed using two contrasting but complementary approaches (inability to detect changes vs. ability to detect changes): (1) The soliton-catalytic model that entails invariant quantum coherent state for temporal frequencies (TFs) >= CFF, where flickering light is perceived as unchanging, similar to a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). (2) Temporal frequency tuned mechanisms model, which starts with ability to detect changes for TFs < CFF and then their sensitivities decreases to zero at CFF. For a subject who has CFF of 60 Hz, the duration of one cycle or time-period of the flickering light is approximately 16.7 ms. Phenomenal time may be quantized into ‘subjective occasions of experience’ (SE), which arise out of the interaction of the individual with situation (environment). Pioneering work examining the complex interaction of neurons suggests the possibility that macroscopic quantum states similar to a BEC may also occur in the brain (Davia, 2006; Freeman & Vitiello, 2006; Georgiev, 2004; Vimal & Davia, 2008) . (shrink)

A general definition of consciousness that accommodates most views (Vimal, 2010b) is: “ ‘consciousness is a mental aspect of a system or a process, which is a conscious experience, a conscious function, or both depending on the context and particular bias (e.g. metaphysical assumptions)’, where experiences can be conscious experiences and/or non-conscious experiences and functions can be conscious functions and/or non-conscious functions that include qualities of objects. These are a posteriori definitions because they are based on observations and the categorization.” (...) Non-conscious experiences are equivalent to relevant proto-experiences and nonconscious functions are equivalent to related proto-functions at various levels as these terms are precursors of respective conscious subjective experiences and conscious functions aspect of consciousness. The non-conscious experiences and non-conscious functions may be considered as a part of the definition of mind and/or awareness. (shrink)

Time’s arrow is necessary for progress from a past that has already happened to a future that is only potential until creatively determined in the present. But time’s arrow is unnecessary in Einstein’s so-called block universe, so there is no creative unfolding in an actual present. How can there be an actual present when there is no universal moment of simultaneity? Events in various places will have different presents according to the position, velocity, and nature of the perceiver. Standing against (...) this view is traditional common sense since we normally experience time’s arrow as reality and the present as our place in the stream of consciousness, but we err to imagine we are living in the actual present. The present of our daily experience is actually a specious present, according to E. Robert Kelly (later popularized by William James), or duration, according to Henri Bergson, an habitus, as elucidated by Kerby (1991), or, simply, the psychological present (Adams, 2010) – all terms indicating that our experienced present so consists of the past overlapping into the future that any potential for acting from the creative moment is crowded out. Yet, for philosophers of process from Herakleitos onward, it is the philosophies of change or process that treat time’s arrow and the creative fire of the actual present as realities. In this essay, I examine the most well known but possibly least understood process cosmology of Alfred North Whitehead to seek out this elusive but actual present. In doing so, I will also ask if process philosophy is itself an example of the creative imagination and if this relates to doing science. I conclude Whitehead's process philosophy falls short of allowing for the actual creative spontaneity of a dynamic (eternal) present. (shrink)