Naturalism.org

I.

In seven brief talks on free will in the Waking Up meditation app,  Sam Harris gets it importantly right about the consequences of giving up the myth of libertarian freedom. We are urged to accept causal determinism, plus any indeterminism that might exist, when it comes to understanding ourselves.

Consciousness and the Representational Relation:
Why Experience Can’t Be Objectified

Thomas W. Clark, Institute for Behavioral Health, Schneider Institutes for Health Policy, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University

Keywords: consciousness, qualia, physicalism, representation, phenomenal experience, objectivity, content

Abstract

Let’s say you take a completely deterministic view of your personal development and current behavior. Looking back on a particular choice or action, you agree that it was the fully caused outcome of all the conditions in play, such that were we to replay the situation, all conditions set the same, the same outcome would have transpired. This means you couldn’t have done other than what you did in that situation.

Introduction

Conceptions of human flourishing vary, but there are requirements for well-being that nearly everyone would endorse: meeting basic physical and emotional needs, having opportunities for learning, mastery and self-expression, being a valued member of a secure community, and finding one’s place in the ultimate scheme of things. These domains of well-being reflect the complexity and variety of human motivations, not all of which, unfortunately, find fulfillment in every life.

Encountering Naturalism: A Worldview and Its Uses

Introduction and Overview

Most of us have a worldview – a set of beliefs about what exists, how reality is organized, and how we fit into it. Whether explicit or not, a worldview helps to shape our goals and actions; it’s an overarching cognitive framework that helps to make sense of things, practically, ethically and existentially.

Introduction: looking for experience