Mental Philosophy

What does it actually mean to be rational? Not Hollywood-style "rational", where you forsake all human feeling to embrace Cold Hard Logic, but where you make good decisions, even when it's hard; where you reason well, even in the face of massive uncertainty; where you recognize and make full use of your fuzzy intuitions and emotions, rather than trying to discard them. In Rationality: From AI to Zombies, Eliezer Yudkowsky explains the science underlying human irrationality with a mix of fables, argumentative essays, and personal vignettes.

William Stixrud, PhD, and Ned Johnson have 60 years combined experience talking to kids one-on-one, and the most common question they get when out speaking to parents and educators is: What do you say? While many adults understand the importance and power of the philosophies behind the books that dominate the parenting bestseller list, parents are often left wondering how to put those concepts into action. Johnson and Stixrud show how to engage in respectful and effective dialogue, beginning with defining and demonstrating the basic principles of listening and speaking.

Understanding how brains produce consciousness is one of the great scientific challenges of our age. Some philosophers argue that consciousness is something "extra", beyond the physical workings of the brain. Others think that if we persist in our standard scientific methods, our questions about consciousness will eventually be answered. And some suggest that the mystery is so deep, it will never be solved.

The Origins and History of Consciousness draws on a full range of world mythology to show how individual consciousness undergoes the same archetypal stages of development as human consciousness as a whole. Erich Neumann was one of C. G. Jung's most creative students and a renowned practitioner of analytical psychology in his own right. In this influential book, Neumann shows how the stages begin and end with the symbol of the Uroboros, the tail-eating serpent.

A revolution in relationships is taking place across the western world. It is happening in different ways for all people in all classes of society, and it is breathing life into a new vision of relationship and self. The product of this revolution—a third, higher level of connection called the "whole mate relationship"—promises to have a far more powerful effect on the quality, joy, and potency of our lives than any other single shift in culture since the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

Is the world really falling apart? Is the ideal of progress obsolete? In this elegant assessment of the human condition in the third millennium, cognitive scientist and public intellectual Steven Pinker urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom, which play to our psychological biases. Instead, follow the data: Pinker shows that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise, not just in the West but worldwide.

John Forbes Nash, Jr., a prodigy and legend by the age of 30, dazzled the mathematical world by solving a series of deep problems deemed "impossible" by other mathematicians. But at the height of his fame, Nash suffered a catastrophic mental breakdown and began a harrowing descent into insanity, resigning his post at MIT, slipping into a series of bizarre delusions, and eventually becoming a dreamy, ghostlike figure at Princeton, scrawling numerological messages on blackboards.

Play is how children explore, discover, fail, succeed, socialize, and flourish. It is a fundamental element of the human condition. It's the key to giving schoolchildren skills they need to succeed. Expert organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Centers for Disease Control agree that play and physical activity are critical foundations of childhood, academics, and future skills - yet politicians are destroying play in childhood education.

Am I happy enough? This has been a pivotal question since America's inception. "Am I not happy enough because I am depressed?" is a more recent version. Psychotherapist Gary Greenberg shows how depression has been manufactured---not as an illness but as an idea about our suffering, its source, and its relief. He challenges us to look at depression in a new way.

En este audiolibro innovador y práctico, Daniel J. Siegel y Tina Payne Bryson desmitifican las crisis y los conflictos, explicando los nuevos conocimientos científicos sobre cómo está constituido el cerebro y cómo madura. Incluyendo claras explicaciones, estrategias correspondientes a las distintas edades para enfrentarse a las luchas cotidianas e ilustraciones que ayudan a explicar estos conceptos a los niños, El cerebro del niño enseña a cultivar un desarrollo emocional e intelectual sano para que los niños puedan tener una vida equilibrada, significativa, y conectada.

Understanding Albert Camus: Key Existential Ideas and How to Apply Them to Everyday Life is a powerful and accessible guide to the enduring wisdom of one of the 20th century’s most influential thinkers. Blending philosophy with practical insight, this book explores the major ideas of Albert Camus, including the absurd, revolt, freedom, and moral responsibility, all while showing how his timeless principles can help you live a richer, more authentic life. Whether you’re new to existentialism or looking for a deeper understanding of Camus’s work, this engaging book takes you through key...

Humans are born to create theories about the world - unfortunately, they're usually wrong, and keep us from understanding the world as it really is. Why do we catch colds? What causes seasons to change? And if you fire a bullet from a gun and drop one from your hand, which bullet hits the ground first? In a pinch, we almost always get these questions wrong. Worse, we regularly misconstrue fundamental qualities of the world around us.

We are all supremely interested in one subject. There is one thing that means more to us than all the other things in the world put together, and that is our search for God and the understanding of his nature. The aim of the metaphysical movement is to teach the practice of the presence of God.

Secretos de la magia mental. En este libro el autor nos explica en que consiste el poder mental, esa fuerza que no podemos ver, pero si podemos conocer a través de sus acciones. Lo describe como cualquier otra energía: como la electricidad, el vapor etc., y nos dice que incluso el poder mental precede a estas formas de energía. Todas las formas de vida y las que no tienen vida poseen poder mental, su uso y beneficios deberían estar al alcance de todos.

What sparks the flash of brilliance? How does groundbreaking innovation happen? Answering in his infectious, culturally omnivorous style, using his fluency in fields from neurobiology to popular culture, Johnson provides the complete, exciting, and encouraging story of how we generate the ideas that push our careers, our lives, our society, and our culture forward.

The story we usually tell about childhood and success is the one about intelligence: success comes to those who score highest on tests, from preschool admissions to SATs. But in How Children Succeed, Paul Tough argues that the qualities that matter most have more to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism, and self-control. How Children Succeed introduces us to a new generation of researchers and educators who, for the first time, are using the tools of science to peel back the mysteries of character.

Holocaust survivor Viktor E. Frankl is known as the founder of logotherapy, a mode of psychotherapy based on human's motivation to search for meaning in his life. The author discusses his ideas in the context of other prominent psychotherapies and describes the techniques he uses with his patients to combat the "existential vacuum".

One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps has established itself as a classic, a bellwether of the most significant recovery movement of the 21st century, combining Buddhist mindfulness practices with a 12-step recovery program.

4 JAPANESE CONCEPTS TO TRANSFORM YOUR STATE OF MIND - “Unleashing Secrets Of Ancient Japanese Wisdom To Transcend Your State Of Mind And Create Lasting Mental Change”Do you want to live a peaceful and stress-free life, but don’t know how? Do you want to complete more work in less time? Do you hear everywhere about the benefits of a Zen state of mind, but you just can’t figure out how to achieve it? If your answer is Yes, then this book is exactly what you are looking for. In this book, we will discuss four Japanese concepts derived from ancient Zen principles. These concepts are ...

In this extraordinary best seller, James Hillman presents a brilliant vision of our selves, and an exciting approach to the mystery at the center of every life that asks, “What is it, in my heart, that I must do, be, and have? And why?” Drawing on the biographies of figures such as Ella Fitzgerald and Mohandas K. Gandhi, Hillman argues that character is fate, that there is more to each individual than can be explained by genetics and environment. The result is a reasoned and powerful road map to understanding our true nature and discovering an eye-opening array of choices.