Download or read book Trying Not to Try written by Edward Slingerland and published by Crown. This book was released on 2014-03-04 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A deeply original exploration of the power of spontaneity—an ancient Chinese ideal that cognitive scientists are only now beginning to understand—and why it is so essential to our well-being Why is it always hard to fall asleep the night before an important meeting? Or be charming and relaxed on a first date? What is it about a politician who seems wooden or a comedian whose jokes fall flat or an athlete who chokes? In all of these cases, striving seems to backfire. In Trying Not To Try, Edward Slingerland explains why we find spontaneity so elusive, and shows how early Chinese thought points the way to happier, more authentic lives. We’ve long been told that the way to achieve our goals is through careful reasoning and conscious effort. But recent research suggests that many aspects of a satisfying life, like happiness and spontaneity, are best pursued indirectly. The early Chinese philosophers knew this, and they wrote extensively about an effortless way of being in the world, which they called wu-wei (ooo-way). They believed it was the source of all success in life, and they developed various strategies for getting it and hanging on to it. With clarity and wit, Slingerland introduces us to these thinkers and the marvelous characters in their texts, from the butcher whose blade glides effortlessly through an ox to the wood carver who sees his sculpture simply emerge from a solid block. Slingerland uncovers a direct line from wu-wei to the Force in Star Wars, explains why wu-wei is more powerful than flow, and tells us what it all means for getting a date. He also shows how new research reveals what’s happening in the brain when we’re in a state of wu-wei—why it makes us happy and effective and trustworthy, and how it might have even made civilization possible. Through stories of mythical creatures and drunken cart riders, jazz musicians and Japanese motorcycle gangs, Slingerland effortlessly blends Eastern thought and cutting-edge science to show us how we can live more fulfilling lives. Trying Not To Try is mind-expanding and deeply pleasurable, the perfect antidote to our striving modern culture.
Download or read book Kant on Freedom and Spontaneity written by Kate A. Moran and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-27 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of essays on the foundational themes of freedom and spontaneity in Immanuel Kant's philosophy.
Download or read book Kant on Spontaneity written by Marco Sgarbi and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-06-14 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The concept of spontaneity is central to Kant's philosophy, yet Kant himself never dealt with it explicitly. Instead it was presented as an insoluble problem concerning human reason. The ambiguity surrounding his approach to this problem is surprising when one considers that he was a philosopher who based his theoretical programme on the critique of the faculties of knowledge, feeling and desire. However, this ambiguity seems to have avoided up to now any possible critique. This highly original book presents the first full-length study of the problem of spontaneity in Kant. Marco Sgarbi demonstrates that spontaneity is a crucial concept in relation to every aspect of Kant's thought. He begins by reconstructing the history of the concept of spontaneity in the German Enlightenment prior to Kant and goes on to define knowing, thinking, acting and feeling as spontaneous activities of the mind that in turn determine Kant's logic, ethics and aesthetics. Ultimately Sgarbi shows that the notion of spontaneity is key to understanding both Kant's theoretical and practical philosophy.
Download or read book Dialectics of Spontaneity written by Zhiyi Yang and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2015-06-24 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Dialectics of Spontaneity, Zhiyi Yang examines the aesthetic and ethical theories of Su Shi, the primary poet, artist, and statesman of Northern Song.
Download or read book Trying Not to Try written by Edward Slingerland and published by Crown. This book was released on 2015-03-03 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A deeply original exploration of the power of spontaneity—an ancient Chinese ideal that cognitive scientists are only now beginning to understand—and why it is so essential to our well-being Why is it always hard to fall asleep the night before an important meeting? Or be charming and relaxed on a first date? What is it about a politician who seems wooden or a comedian whose jokes fall flat or an athlete who chokes? In all of these cases, striving seems to backfire. In Trying Not To Try, Edward Slingerland explains why we find spontaneity so elusive, and shows how early Chinese thought points the way to happier, more authentic lives. We’ve long been told that the way to achieve our goals is through careful reasoning and conscious effort. But recent research suggests that many aspects of a satisfying life, like happiness and spontaneity, are best pursued indirectly. The early Chinese philosophers knew this, and they wrote extensively about an effortless way of being in the world, which they called wu-wei (ooo-way). They believed it was the source of all success in life, and they developed various strategies for getting it and hanging on to it. With clarity and wit, Slingerland introduces us to these thinkers and the marvelous characters in their texts, from the butcher whose blade glides effortlessly through an ox to the wood carver who sees his sculpture simply emerge from a solid block. Slingerland uncovers a direct line from wu-wei to the Force in Star Wars, explains why wu-wei is more powerful than flow, and tells us what it all means for getting a date. He also shows how new research reveals what’s happening in the brain when we’re in a state of wu-wei—why it makes us happy and effective and trustworthy, and how it might have even made civilization possible. Through stories of mythical creatures and drunken cart riders, jazz musicians and Japanese motorcycle gangs, Slingerland effortlessly blends Eastern thought and cutting-edge science to show us how we can live more fulfilling lives. Trying Not To Try is mind-expanding and deeply pleasurable, the perfect antidote to our striving modern culture.
Download or read book Rituals of Spontaneity written by Lori Branch and published by Baylor University Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Book of the Year Award for the Conference on Christianity and Literature.--Thomas H. Luxon, Dartmouth College "CHOICE"
Download or read book Ziran written by Brian Bruya and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2022-07-01 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ziran, an idea from ancient Daoism, defies easy translation into English but can almost be captured by the term "spontaneity." It means "self-causation," if "self" is understood as fundamentally plural, and "causation" is understood as sensitivity and responsiveness. Applying ziran to the fields of action theory, attention theory, and aesthetics, Brian Bruya uses easy-to-read, straightforward prose to show, step-by-step, how this philosophical concept from an ancient tradition can be used to advance theory today. Incorporated into contemporary philosophy of action, ziran opens us to the notion of movement and action as self-organizing. Incorporated into contemporary cognitive science, ziran opens us to the possibility of effortless attention, contrary to the reigning paradigm. Incorporated into contemporary aesthetics, ziran opens us to a new category of art—somatic art—and a new, refined understanding of improvisation.
Download or read book Reason and Spontaneity written by Angus Charles Graham and published by Rl Innactive Titles. This book was released on 1985 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To find more information on Rowman & Littlefield titles, please visit us at www.rowmanlittlefield.com.
Download or read book Kant on Spontaneity written by Marco Sgarbi and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2012-06-28 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An original study of spontaneity in Kant, a central yet neglected concept that is relevant to all aspects of his philosophy.
Download or read book The Spontaneous Brain written by Georg Northoff and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2024-08-06 with total page 533 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An argument for a Copernican revolution in our consideration of mental features—a shift in which the world-brain problem supersedes the mind-body problem. Philosophers have long debated the mind-body problem—whether to attribute such mental features as consciousness to mind or to body. Meanwhile, neuroscientists search for empirical answers, seeking neural correlates for consciousness, self, and free will. In this book, Georg Northoff does not propose new solutions to the mind-body problem; instead, he questions the problem itself, arguing that it is an empirically, ontologically, and conceptually implausible way to address the existence and reality of mental features. We are better off, he contends, by addressing consciousness and other mental features in terms of the relationship between world and brain; philosophers should consider the world-brain problem rather than the mind-body problem. This calls for a Copernican shift in vantage point—from within the mind or brain to beyond the brain—in our consideration of mental features. Northoff, a neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and philosopher, explains that empirical evidence suggests that the brain's spontaneous activity and its spatiotemporal structure are central to aligning and integrating the brain within the world. This spatiotemporal structure allows the brain to extend beyond itself into body and world, creating the “world-brain relation” that is central to mental features. Northoff makes his argument in empirical, ontological, and epistemic-methodological terms. He discusses current models of the brain and applies these models to recent data on neuronal features underlying consciousness and proposes the world-brain relation as the ontological predisposition for consciousness.
Download or read book Kant on Freedom and Spontaneity written by Kate A. Moran and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-27 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spontaneity - understood as an action of the mind or will that is not determined by a prior external stimulus - is a theme that resonates throughout Immanuel Kant's theoretical and practical philosophy. Though spontaneity and the concomitant notion of freedom lie at the foundation of many of Kant's most pivotal theses and arguments regarding cognition, judgment, and moral action, spontaneity and freedom themselves often remain cloaked in mystery, or accessible only via transcendental argument. This volume brings together a distinguished group of scholars who explore the nature of freedom and spontaneity, the arguments Kant offers surrounding these concepts, and their place in Kant's larger philosophical system. The collection will be of interest to scholars interested in any aspect of Kant's philosophy, especially those who hope to gain a deeper insight into these fundamental Kantian ideas.
Download or read book Effortless Living written by Jason Gregory and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-03-13 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A guide for achieving an enlightened mind through the art of non-doing • Details meditation practices, focused on stillness of the mind, along with Patanjali’s yoga methods to maintain a consciousness referred to as “being in the zone” • Builds on Taoist, Confucian, and Hindu principles along with scientific findings to support wu-wei--the art of non-doing, non-forcing--as a way of life • Explains how wu-wei practitioners cultivate intelligent spontaneity and effortless action to allow the natural harmony of the cosmos to prevail The practice of non-doing, non-forcing is an essential aspect of Taoism known as wu-wei. Attributed to the great sage Lao-tzu, the philosophy of wu-wei teaches you how to develop a natural state of consciousness not bound by thought or preconceived limitations. Experienced by the greatest artists, athletes, musicians, and writers, this heightened state of consciousness, referred to as “being in the zone,” is where intelligent spontaneity and effortless action flourish via a practice rooted in permitting the natural harmony of the cosmos to prevail. Merging Taoist philosophy, Hindu principles, and Confucianism along with scientific findings, Jason Gregory outlines the practice of wu-wei as a vehicle to realize our innate freedom, revealing that when we release our ego and allow life to unfold as it will, we align ourselves more closely with our goals and cultivate skill and mastery along the way. Equating “being in the zone” with a stillness of the mind, Gregory shares meditation practices coupled with yoga exercises from Patanjali that allow you to approach life with a mastery of acceptance, releasing deluded beliefs of how to achieve success that make your mind “sticky” and poised for conflict. The author shows how practicing wu-wei paradoxically empowers you to accomplish all that you desire by having no intention to do so, as well as allowing you to become receptive to nature’s blueprint for expressing beauty. Revealing wisdom utilized by renowned sages, artists, and athletes who have adapted “being in the zone” as a way of life, the author shows that wu-wei can yield a renewed sense of trust in many aspects of your daily life, making each day more effortless. As an avid wu-wei practitioner, he provides keen insight on how you, too, can experience the beauty of achieving an enlightened, effortless mind while reveling in the process of life’s unfolding.
Download or read book Metaphysics of Freedom written by Christian H. Krijnen and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-08-27 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Freedom is one of the main issues of modern philosophy and Kant’s philosophy of freedom a major source for comprehending it. Whereas in contemporary debates Kant’s concept of practical freedom is addressed frequently, the cosmological foundation of it is much less discussed and even mostly taken for granted. In Metaphysics of Freedom?, by contrast, Kant’s concept of cosmological freedom is scrutinized both in a historical and a systematic perspective. As a result, a deeper and broader understanding of Kant’s conception of freedom, its presuppositions, and problems emerges.
Download or read book Reason and Spontaneity written by Angus Charles Graham and published by Routledge. This book was released on 1985 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Mapping the Edges and the In between written by Nancy Nyquist Potter and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-25 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a diagnosis given to a significant number of people in the Western world. Yet many of the core concepts & symptoms that go with this diagnosis are questionable. This book presents a compelling analysis of BPD, arguing that it needs to be approached in a new light- one that will benefit patients.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Spontaneous Thought written by Kieran C.R. Fox and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-16 with total page 657 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Where do spontaneous thoughts come from? It may be surprising that the seemingly straightforward answers "from the mind" or "from the brain" are in fact an incredibly recent understanding of the origins of spontaneous thought. For nearly all of human history, our thoughts - especially the most sudden, insightful, and important - were almost universally ascribed to divine or other external sources. Only in the past few centuries have we truly taken responsibility for their own mental content, and finally localized thought to the central nervous system - laying the foundations for a protoscience of spontaneous thought. But enormous questions still loom: what, exactly, is spontaneous thought? Why does our brain engage in spontaneous forms of thinking, and when is this most likely to occur? And perhaps the question most interesting and accessible from a scientific perspective: how does the brain generate and evaluate its own spontaneous creations? Spontaneous thought includes our daytime fantasies and mind-wandering; the flashes of insight and inspiration familiar to the artist, scientist, and inventor; and the nighttime visions we call dreams. This Handbook brings together views from neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, phenomenology, history, education, contemplative traditions, and clinical practice to begin to address the ubiquitous but poorly understood mental phenomena that we collectively call 'spontaneous thought.' In studying such an abstruse and seemingly impractical subject, we should remember that our capacity for spontaneity, originality, and creativity defines us as a species - and as individuals. Spontaneous forms of thought enable us to transcend not only the here and now of perceptual experience, but also the bonds of our deliberately-controlled and goal-directed cognition; they allow the space for us to be other than who we are, and for our minds to think beyond the limitations of our current viewpoints and beliefs.
Download or read book Reason and Spontaneity written by Angus Charles Graham and published by . This book was released on 2021-03-24 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Best renowned for his ground-breaking work as a British sinologist in classical Chinese thought, A. C. Graham (1919-1991) wrote a number of non-historical philosophical works. The Problem of Value (Quirin Press 2019), initially published in 1961, was his first foray in this fruitful vain. As such it can be said that it both represented and was a precursor to his wide-ranging exploration on the nature of thought itself. Through linguistic analysis Graham clarifies the various approaches and types of reasoning "by which each of us seeks his own answers." Along the way he takes up the challenge first raised by linguistic philosophers such as Wittgenstein and explores such essential human themes as the nature of egoism; morals; poetry; myth; cosmology; mysticism; and Zen. As the editors Carine Defoort and Roger T. Ames point out in their introduction to Having a Word with Angus Graham: At Twenty-Five Years into His Immortality (a volume of critical reflections on the work of Graham published by the SUNY Press, 2018): One of Graham's self-declared "hobby horses" was the topic of spontaneity in Chinese philosophy in which he saw a novel solution to the Western fact/value dichotomy. Graham began to elaborate on spontaneity in an early monograph, The Problem of Value (1961), gave it a full reconsideration in his Reason and Spontaneity (1985), and ended up bumping into this topic wherever he looked... In Reason and Spontaneity: A New Solution to the Problem of Fact and Value "Graham rejects both Kantian rationalism and romantic irrationalism in favor of a notion of self in which awareness integrates reason and spontaneity" Lisa Raphals "Reason and Spontaneity Reconsidered" in Defoort & Ames, Eds., 2018 Quirin Press is proud to announce that as part of our commitment to A.C. Graham's "hobby horse," following the publication of this second monograph, we plan to re-publish Graham's remaining title in the series of works on his own "thinking about thinking: " Unreason Within Reason: Essays on the Outskirts of Rationality (mid 2021)
