Free download of my book, Standards for Behavioral Commitments: Philosophy of Humanism

Link to a free download of Standards for Behavioral Commitments: Philosophy of Humanism. Topics covered include chemistry, biology, genetics, neuroscience, epistemology, the history of Western philosophy, cultural evolution, theory of cognition, ethics and much more. https://philosophyofhumanismcom.files.wordpress.com/2022/05/standards-for-behavioral-commitments-philosophy-of-humanism.pdf A brief outline: 1. “Section 1: Behavioral Functions and Scientific Models” Subsection i., Behavioral Functions, frames the intersection … Continue reading Free download of my book, Standards for Behavioral Commitments: Philosophy of Humanism →

The Conjoined Evolution of Conception, Language and Sociality

a. The functional arbitrariness of language-influenced thought Despite a vast variety of circumstances in which humans apply reasoning, the basics are the same, an intrastructural connectivity provisional of extrapolative and interpolative inferencing, mapped onto the causality observed and inspected as we perceive and conceive. Psychical blending of the unconscious with perceptual, conceptual and inferential association as well as intentionality, reflection and … Continue reading The Conjoined Evolution of Conception, Language and Sociality →

The Crisis of the Individual in Contemporary Civilization

During the Medieval period, Europe commenced small-scale education in the liberal arts, which expanded into cathedral schools and eventually a continent-wide system of universities, cultivating many brilliant talents. This movement towards a culture of intellectuality informed by academia came to full fruition in the 18th century when scholars orchestrated a promotion of reason as the … Continue reading The Crisis of the Individual in Contemporary Civilization →

Immunity and the Institution of Health Care

It is unlikely that a mutation from changes to the genetic code during transcription of the DNA sequence has caused widespread alteration in traits of the human immune system, at least since the origin of our species, unless there is some phenomenon of transmission between individuals we know nothing about. Beneficial mutations are too rare to alone be an explanation for … Continue reading Immunity and the Institution of Health Care →

The Psychology and History of Violent Conflict

Human combat is one of the few contexts where primal instinct is unleashed without restraint, and so reveals much about the psyche that is not ordinarily observable. Its roots are in the fight-or-flight response, the surge of energy that prepares a physique under duress to defend itself when in danger or flee at maximal speeds, present to … Continue reading The Psychology and History of Violent Conflict →

The Psychology and Institutions of Intimacy and Sexuality

The first notions of the psyche's development were theorized with reference to 'libido', the formative spontaneity of an organism as it extends itself into surroundings, grappling with environments in order to meet its needs, primarily those of nutrition, reproduction and aptness of perception-driven response, for which processes the nervous system and especially the brain are the body's control center. Psychical libido was … Continue reading The Psychology and Institutions of Intimacy and Sexuality →

The Nature and Human Impact of Qualia

Qualia have captured the imagination of philosophy of mind for generations, with a substantial body of scholarly literature devoted to analysis of this subject. What are these phenomena both internal and external to mind, which create the appearance of our world while simultaneously informed by environments, both inside and outside of matter? Why do qualia … Continue reading The Nature and Human Impact of Qualia →

Human Motivation and its Place in the Development towards Contemporary Culture

We have encountered some indications of why the human psyche, its motivations and identity, seem more complex than most known species. Human creativity desires to fashion and refashion not only its environment but also a purpose transcending immediacies of its reality, the projections of imagination with a plasticity exceedingly liberated from attachment to instinctual drives and … Continue reading Human Motivation and its Place in the Development towards Contemporary Culture →

The Nature and Origins of Ethics

Questions of ethics reduce to judgements about behavior. We must decide if an action is likely to garner a desired outcome; when habitualization of an act or procedure is revealed to more likely result in attainment of what we aim for, that activity is preferred and becomes an inveteracy. When habits have implications for our social … Continue reading The Nature and Origins of Ethics →

Norms, Customs, Conscience and Power

In the previous chapter, it was established with that the very possibility of human existence requires satisfaction of some essentials: food, shelter, clothing, health, safety and community. We can further say that meeting these universal needs depends on functional mechanisms: tools, techniques, problem-solving, and occupations. Behaviors are of universal value when they facilitate the actuating … Continue reading Norms, Customs, Conscience and Power →