While rejection and skepticism of science is often associated with the political Far Right, it also exists in the Far Left.
Author: David Cycleback
What Is Time?
Time is one of humankind’s unanswerable mysteries.
Children, Non-Human Animals and Spirituality
Mysticism and spirituality involve the brain naturally if unusually functioning in particular ways. With their brains functioning differently than that of adult humans, and young children and non-human animals literally perceiving the world differently, children and non-human animals appear to be able to, if perhaps not more able to, think in spiritual ways.
Mental Conditions, Religious Visions, Society and Pathology
Following the article ‘The relationship Between Schizophrenia and Religious Visions’, the following looks more at some other mental conditions, their relationship to society, how conditions are pathologized, and the question of if and how to pathologically categorize religious visions versus mental condition hallucinations and delusions.
Eastern Versus Western Psychology
The East (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism) and West (Western academia, science, medicine) offer two different and illuminating approaches to the study of the mind, and are emblematic of philosophical and epistemological study of the brain. They approach the brain differently, looking at things at different levels and have their own benefits and limitations. In the end … Continue reading Eastern Versus Western Psychology
The Relationship Between Schizophrenia and Religious Visions
The similarity between religious visions and hallucinations and delusions of people with mental illness has long been known. Numerous mental conditions can produce mystical or spiritual experiences, including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and epilepsy. This focus here is on schizophrenia.
Art Perception: Connecting to the Unreal
A complex and fascinating question is why do humans have such strong emotional reactions and human connections to art? Why do viewers become scared, even haunted for days, by a movie monster they know doesn't exist? Why do humans become enthralled by distorted figures and scenes that aren't realistic? Why do viewers have emotional attachments … Continue reading Art Perception: Connecting to the Unreal
The Religious Views of Six Famous Physicists
Scientists who use the same logic and scientific methods come to different conclusions, or opinions, about God and religion. Religion and God are beyond the scope of science and reasons, and it takes different types of thinking to address, though not answers, those areas. This also shows that the world view of even scientists, logicians … Continue reading The Religious Views of Six Famous Physicists
Antireductionism and the Death of Physics Nobel Prize Winner Philip Anderson
The Physics Nobel Prize winner at Princeton died a few days ago (Obituary at Scientific American), and he was a scientist of great interest to philosophers (like me). He was an antireductionist and was for complexity. He saw that reality, and any area within it, was far too complex and nuanced to be reduced to … Continue reading Antireductionism and the Death of Physics Nobel Prize Winner Philip Anderson
Neurodiversity: The theory, movement, issues and controversies
"The lunatic, the lover, and the poet are of imagination all compact."-- Shakespeare Neurodiversity is a recent theory and movement that wishes to reclassify mental illnesses and conditions as natural neurological variations. There is a wide variety of views and approaches to the topic, including within the medical field and amongst the mentally ill and … Continue reading Neurodiversity: The theory, movement, issues and controversies
Looking at Artifacts and Ideas 