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A synthetic theory of the human circumstance

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By Rodrigo Cáceres Riquelme This essay is an attempt to refine Mark Pharoah’s synthetic framework (2018) that provides an objective account of the emergence of subjective experience. My interpretation of his argument is a chronology of emergence of phenomena occurring in the following order: (1) autopoietic units or living organisms in continuous structural change due to interactions with their environment bring forth an emergent interface that unites both ‘internal’ and ‘external’ aspects of the organism-environment couple in a same place or space . We usually denote this interface as ‘mind’, but since theory of mind in western philosophy is plagued by a container-object understanding of mind (as we shall see below), I will refrain from using this concept in order to avoid misunderstanding, and prefer to use the concept of interface. (2) The first aspect that characterizes the construction of this interface through biosemiotic processes is the bringing forth of qualities or qual...
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Absolutization and the power of synthesis: Interview with Robert M. Ellis, PhD.

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  I am delighted to have Robert M. Ellis, author and founder of the Middle Way Society again for a second conversation. This time, we will focus on his upcoming book "Absolutization: The source of Dogma, Repression and Conflict" which will be available in 2022, published by Equinox. I offered Robert some comments for his book while it was in edition, and I was impressed by its scope and how he traces the phenomenon of absolutization through different angles and formulations. Enjoy the interview. - Please tell us a bit about your upcoming book on absolutization and why you selected and focused on this topic. -I’ve been working for around twenty years on the Middle Way as a universal practical principle of judgement that we can live our lives by. The basic model, or metaphor, involved in the Middle Way is that of navigating between extremes. However, to understand this, one needs to understand the nature of the extremes that we are trying to avoid. They are not necessarily the...
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Religious aspects of modern capitalism

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Illustration by Liana Buszka Text by Slavoj Zizek We should not simply oppose a principal life - dedicated to duty and enjoying our small pleasures.  Let's take today's capitalism. We have, on the one hand, the demands of the circulation of the capital which push us towards profit making - expansion, exploitation and destruction of nature and, on the other hand, ecological demands: let's think about our posterity and about our own survival, - let's take care of nature and so on.  In this opposition between ruthless pursuit of capitalist expansion and ecological awareness - duty, a strange perverted duty of course - duty is on the side of capitalism, as many perspicuous analysts noted. Capitalism has a strange religious structure. It is propelled by this absolute demand: capital has to circulate, to reproduce itself, to expand - to multiply itself. And for this goal, anything can be sacrificed, up to our lives, up to nature and so on. Here we have ...
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