Search results for "wandering"

The myth of cognitive agency: subpersonal thinking as a cyclically recurring loss of mental autonomy

2018

This metatheoretical paper investigates mind wandering from the perspective of philosophy of mind. It has two central claims. The first is that, on a conceptual level, mind wandering can be fruitfully described as a specific form of mental autonomy loss. The second is that, given empirical constraints, most of what we call “conscious thought” is better analyzed as a subpersonal process that more often than not lacks crucial properties traditionally taken to be the hallmark of personal-level cognition - such as mental agency, explicit, consciously experienced goal-directedness, or availability for veto control. I claim that for roughly two thirds of our conscious life-time we do not possess …

2013

This metatheoretical paper investigates mind wandering from the perspective of philosophy of mind. It has two central claims. The first is that on a conceptual level, mind wandering can be fruitfully described as a specific form of mental autonomy loss. The second is that most of what we call “conscious thought” is better analysed as a subpersonal process that more often than not lacks crucial properties traditionally taken to be the hallmark of personal-level cognition, such as mental agency, explicit, consciously experienced goal-directedness, or availability for veto control. I claim that for roughly two thirds of our life-time we do not possess mental autonomy (M-autonomy) in this sense…

Demographic responses to oxidative stress and inflammation in the wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans).

2015

12 pages; International audience; One of the major challenges in ecological research is the elucidation of physiological mechanisms that underlie the demographic traits of wild animals. We have assessed whether a marker of plasma oxidative stress (TBARS) and plasma haptoglobin (protein of the acute inflammatory phase response) measured at time t predict five demographic parameters (survival rate, return rate to the breeding colony, breeding probability, hatching and fledging success) in sexually mature wandering albatrosses over the next four years (Diomedea exulans) using a five-year individual-based dataset. Non-breeder males, but not females, having higher TBARS at time t had reduced fut…

Romantic Errings and Wanderings: A Celebration of Error ?

2015

International audience

Le périple erratique de la mendiante durassienne

2022

Marguerite Duras focuses on a rejected individual on the margins of society. Her literary characters oppose being perceived as devoid of autonomy, contesting the fixed model of a submissive and passive woman. On the contrary, they reject the social order and the traditional system of values, claiming the right to freedom and thus demonstrating transgressive female behaviour. Duras’ heroine, a mysterious, crazy person who is looking for love and is aware of her otherness and alienation, appears as a kind of femme fatale or a witch. This image of a “different” woman – a disturbing, unhappy, lost, borderline person experiencing a specific crisis – is best illustrated by a beggar. She identifie…

Why are dreams interesting for philosophers? The example of minimal phenomenal selfhood, plus an agenda for future research1

2013

This metatheoretical paper develops a list of new research targets by exploring particularly promising interdisciplinary contact points between empirical dream research and philosophy of mind. The central example is the MPS-problem. It is constituted by the epistemic goal of conceptually isolating and empirically grounding the phenomenal property of “minimal phenomenal selfhood,” which refers to the simplest form of self-consciousness. In order to precisely describe MPS, one must focus on those conditions that are not only causally enabling, but strictly necessary to bring it into existence. This contribution argues that research on bodiless dreams, asomatic out-of-body experiences, and ful…

Why are dreams interesting for philosophers? The example of minimal phenomenal selfhood, plus an agenda for future research.

2013

This metatheoretical paper develops a list of new research targets by exploring particularly promising interdisciplinary contact points between empirical dream research and philosophy of mind. The central example is the MPS-problem. It is constituted by the epistemic goal of conceptually isolating and empirically grounding the phenomenal property of “minimal phenomenal selfhood,” which refers to the simplest form of self-consciousness. In order to precisely describe MPS, one must focus on those conditions that are not only causally enabling, but strictly necessary to bring it into existence. This contribution argues that research on bodiless dreams, asomatic out-of-body experiences, and ful…

Witkaco-Gombrowiczowskie tęsknoty i pragnienia, czyli od metafizyki do estetyki : interpretacje Jerzego Jarockiego

2016

Artykuł prezentuje sylwetki dwóch fascynujących twórców dwudziestowiecznego polskiego dramatu, opisanych na przykładzie Grzebania1 i Błądzenia2 - spektakli Jerzego Jarockiego. Opowiada o tęsknotach, pragnieniach, fobiach Stanisława Ignacego Witkiewicza i Witolda Gombrowicza, z których pierwszy uporczywie dążył do formy, a drugi - od formy pragnął się wyzwolić. „Palę, piję i nic mi to nie szkodzi” - pisał Witkacy w przedmowie do swoich Narkotyków. Z kolei Gombrowicz ustawicznie pisał o sobie, czyniąc z siebie samego bohatera własnych utworów. Jako punkt wyjścia dla moich rozważań wybrałam odmienne sposoby poszukiwania i zaspokajania pragnień duchowych oraz cielesnych.

Mind-wandering and mindfulness as mediators of the relationship between online vigilance and well-being

2018

Contains fulltext : 199030pub.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) As mobile technology allows users to be online anywhere and at all times, a growing number of users report feeling constantly alert and preoccupied with online streams of online information and communication - a phenomenon that has recently been termed online vigilance. Despite its growing prevalence, consequences of this constant orientation toward online streams of information and communication for users' well-being are largely unclear. In the present study, we investigated whether being constantly vigilant is related to cognitive consequences in the form of increased mind-wandering and decreased mindfulness and exam…

Why Is Mind-Wandering Interesting for Philosophers?

2018

This chapter explores points of contact between philosophy of mind and scientific approaches to spontaneous thought. While offering a series of conceptual instruments that might prove helpful for researchers on the empirical research frontier, it begins by asking what the explanandum for theories of mind-wandering is, how one can conceptually individuate single occurrences of this specific target phenomenon, and how one might arrive at a more fine-grained taxonomy. The second half of this contribution sketches some positive proposals as to how one might understand mind-wandering on a conceptual level, namely, as a loss of mental autonomy resulting in involuntary mental behavior, as a highly…