Human Existence Filter: Does everyone have pervasive "background radiation" of anxiety/fear/worry?
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posted by anonymous
on Dec 19, 2012 -
42 answers
What's a good venue to publish an essay on the notions of meaning and explanation in psychology (broadly defined)? I'd like to find a venue that would address both scholars in various fields as well as writers, artists, and the intelligent laymen who might be interested in these issues.
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posted by shivohum
on Jan 16, 2012 -
3 answers
I'm almost finished reading
The Now Habit by Neil Fiore. Can you recommend any books that are similar in approach but deal with a wider focus, that is, setting medium- and long-term goals?
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posted by Busoni
on Aug 2, 2011 -
3 answers
A person actively avoids doing what he knows will make him happy. He just
doesn't want to do it. Psychologically, what's going on here? And more
importantly, perhaps, why
should he do what he doesn't want to do? What arguments, appealing to
either his reason or his emotions, might he consider?
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posted by Busoni
on Jun 29, 2011 -
37 answers
Hi there Marxists, or psychologists, or Jungians, or what have you.
My book club recently voted to read
The Undiscovered Self by Carl Jung. One member quit, insisting that she couldn't read Jung because she was a Marxist.
Why?
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posted by kensington314
on Jun 7, 2011 -
10 answers
I'm looking for some good, meaty non-fiction to read over Christmas break while I'm home from grad school. Something with difficult ideas, yet readable and contemporary, and taking a fairly "big picture" view of a particular field. Any suggestions? Examples below.
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posted by decoherence
on Dec 12, 2010 -
46 answers
What are some good resources on Buddhism for someone who wants to remain attached to Western scientific rationalism?
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posted by Lifeson
on Mar 10, 2010 -
35 answers
What is a classic, perhaps philosophical, novel about individual freedom to choose? So that no matter how desperate the situation you find yourself in, you always have choices about what to do, how to feel and how to think about your situation.
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posted by zaebiz
on Mar 10, 2009 -
23 answers
What are some of the best books and articles on cognitive philosophy, particularly those that cover the debates about mental representations, intentionality, and connectionism? I'm looking both for new writings that are cognizant of advances in neuroscience, and older classics that helped frame the arguments. Thanks.
posted by shivohum
on Feb 4, 2009 -
9 answers
To what extent can we discern different colours? What of this power is merely relational (a light blue, a lighter blue)? Have studies been done to determine if our "resolution of discernment" (a particular distance in nanometers of which we can differentiate two visual wavelengths with unaided vision)? What's the difference between how we speak of colour, how we conjure it up in its particularity in our imagination, and how we differentiate it through experience?
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posted by ageispolis
on Oct 31, 2008 -
13 answers
William James-Filter: does anybody know who said this particular thing about him, and where?
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posted by Beardman
on Oct 8, 2008 -
6 answers
I recently heard a rumor that Carl Gustav Jung would rape female patients and hypnotize them so they would have no memory of the attack. Is there any truth to this, or is this the sort of story professional rivals spread to discredit his ideas?
posted by bunky
on Sep 14, 2008 -
10 answers
I am interested in the mimetic and narrative capacities of
artefacts, how cultural remnants transmit information through time and how meaning is translated once an artefact is re-appropriated or examined from a new perspective. I have several avenues of study at the moment (a list in extended explanation), but would like some more ideas. Areas of critical theory, linguistics, evolutionary psychology and poetics are all relevant.
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posted by 0bvious
on Jan 27, 2008 -
12 answers
I am searching for examples of The Infinite, or the immeasurably large, in our mythologies and archetypes. I am also interested in the categories of Truth which came out of the emergence of Western, ontological thought. Does the trust in a rationally conceivable reality deny us the infinity of the mythological realm? By rooting ourselves in the present, and denying atemporal mythologies, do we also deny the infinite origins from where we came?
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posted by 0bvious
on Nov 28, 2007 -
22 answers
Bernard Williams had a pretty low opinion of evolutionary biology. Are there any essays where he directly or indirectly criticizes the field? What about 'Shame and Necessity'?
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posted by BigSky
on Nov 27, 2007 -
12 answers
We all know about IQ - but has anybody ever tried to make a standardised test for wisdom?
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posted by rongorongo
on Nov 14, 2006 -
6 answers
What is the label for an entity or idea which began as nothing and came to have identity through its own fictionalisation? That is, notions diametrically opposed to '
simulacra' - in that the entity has no referent to begin with...
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posted by 0bvious
on Feb 21, 2006 -
20 answers
What are the various theoretical frameworks for understanding why victims of abuse often 'deal' with their trauma by becoming perpetrators themselves? What explanations have been suggested, for example, as to why sexually molested children often grow up into sexually-molesting adults? The one that comes to mind is that the victim somehow feels he can master the trauma by becoming its perpetrator. What, or who, is the origin of this theory? Is it Freud? Does it (still) have any currency in professional circles? What, if any, other theories have been suggested?
posted by ori
on Feb 18, 2006 -
22 answers
