From the Big Bang to the Human Predicament

Outline of an Ultimate Evolutionary Synthesis

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    • Table of Contents:

    INTRODUCTION


    PART I
    THE NATURAL FOUNDATIONS
    OF HUMAN EXISTENCE

    1 COSMOLOGY AS SELF ORGANIZATION
    OR: ON THE PHYSICS OF LIFE

    Nature Emerges
    Evolution by Natural Selection
    Emergent Levels in Darwinian Evolution
    Emergence as a Scientific Concept
    The Role of Classical Physics
    On Freedom of Choice

    2 BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AS KNOWLEDGE GATHERING
    OR: THE ROOTS OF COGNITION

    The Cell -- Principal Machinery of Life
    The Origin of Life, Lives of a Cell and Cellular Automata
    Philosophical Insert 1: Metaphysical Musings
    Multi-Cell Organisms and the Need for Communication and Control
    Neurons
    Simple Neural Systems and Their Behavior
    A First Look at Ethology
    From Motor Learning to Innate Curiosity

    3 THE EMOTIONS OF BEING
    OR: THE ROOTS OF WILL

    The Four Types of Aggression
    The Taming of Aggression
    Aggression in Humans
    The Rituals of Bonding
    The Similarity Bond and Beyond

    4 THE PRIMATE MIND

    The Uneasy Society of Baboons
    Our Cousins, the Chimpanzees
    Chimpanzee Wars
    The Moral Imperative
    The Origin of Thought and Language
    Philosophical Insert 2: Conclusions for the Theory of Knowledge

    5 THE BRAIN AND ITS EVOLUTION

    Preface to Brain
    Self Organized Intelligence in Artificial Neural Networks
    The Brain's Architecture and Evolution
    Cortical Localization and the Basic Dualism
    Intelligent Cortical Systems
    Limbic System and the Frontal Lobe
    The Networks of Consciousness
    Philosophical Insert 3: The So-Called Problem of Consciousness

    6 FROM NEUROSCIENCE TO PSYCHOLOGY

    Jean Piaget and Self-Adaptation of the Neocortex
    Dreams and Self-Adaptation of the Neocortex
    The Central Interpreter-Storyteller at Work
    C.G.Jung's Psychology and the Neurological Model

    PART II
    BEYOND HUMAN NATURE

    Preface to Part II

    7 NEUROLOGICAL DUALISM IN CULTURAL EVOLUTION

    Cultural versus Genetic Evolution
    In the Garden of Eden
    The Fall From Grace and the Ego System
    Philosophical Insert 4: Evolutionary Epistemology Revisited

    8 FROM RELIGION TO REASON

    The Origin of Religion in the Neurological Dualism
    Shamanism - The Earliest Religion
    The Four Ways of Agriculturists
    Early Syntheses
    The Ego-System Comes of Age
    Christianity - The Blessed Illusion
    The Quest Fulfilled?

    9 THE PAINS OF SUCCESS - AND BEYOND

    An Unexpected Constraint: The World Ecosystem
    The Irresponsible Childhood of Humanity
    Industrial Revolution - Adolescent Prelude to the Future
    Catastrophe or Smooth Transition ?
    Conclusions on Political Theory

    EPILOGUE

    Vignette 1 - Cell Biology
    Vignette 2 - Natural Selection
    Vignette 3 - Artificial Neural Networks

    BIBLIOGRAPHY