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44Towards a Philosophy of Cosmic Life: New Discussions and Interdisciplinary Views (edited book)Springer Nature. 2023.[186 pages] Just as the six branches of a snow crystal converge in regular proportions toward their common center, the six contributions to this book point toward a future philosophy of cosmic life. In this sense, this edited volume represents a multidisciplinary and transcultural polylogue of distinguished authors from three continents, which aims to establish highly innovative perspectives and open new frontiers of developing philosophical reflections and scientific foundations for the emergen…Read more
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1The Cosmic Life Instinct Points the Way to a Healthy Ecological CivilizationIn David Bartosch, Attila Grandpierre & Bei Peng (eds.), Towards a Philosophy of Cosmic Life: New Discussions and Interdisciplinary Views, Springer Nature. pp. 35-67. 2023.Ervin Bauer formulated the most promising version of general theoretical biology in a mathematical form. He derived all the basic biological equations from a single fundamental principle, which is known as the Bauer principle. As this principle tells us, living organisms actively and continuously mobilize their free energy content to maximize their distance from lethal thermodynamic equilibrium. Although, for historical reasons, very few people know this principle, and even fewer recognize its p…Read more
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6IntroductionIn David Bartosch, Attila Grandpierre & Bei Peng (eds.), Towards a Philosophy of Cosmic Life: New Discussions and Interdisciplinary Views, Springer Nature. pp. 1-8. 2023.This introductory chapter to the book Towards a Philosophy of Cosmic Life: New Discussions and Interdisciplinary Views provides an overview on a multidisciplinary, multitheoretical, and transcultural dialogue among six authors from three continents. The aim of this discourse is to establish highly innovative perspectives and to explore new frontiers for the development of philosophical reflections and scientific foundations for the emergence of a common cosmic consciousness, an integral ecology,…Read more
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3Can Chinese Harmonism Help Reconcile the Clash of Civilizations?Process Studies 50 (2): 270-275. 2021.This short article discusses the Chinese concept of harmonism as developed in a book by Zhihe Wang titled Process and Pluralism: Chinese Thought on the Harmony of Diversity. This book develops themes in Whitehead's philosophy as they illuminate the concept of harmonism and constructive postmodernism.
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520The Essence of CivilisationHungarian Geopolitics 3 (2): 174-191. 2018.It is one of the most important questions to us all as to what civilisation means, because it is related to the meaning of our lives, the exploration of our real self- identity, our happiness, our health, the improvement of our conduct of life and dis- covering the path leading to a healthy future of mankind. In our days, one of the greatest tasks of mankind is to resolve the issues raised by the ecological crisis. Why have we got in an ecological crisis? Can the ecological crisis be resolved by…Read more
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14The Fundamental Biological Activity of the UniverseAnalecta Husserliana 121 115-140. 2018.If everything is in permanent change, can the Universe itself be fundamentally passive? Answering this question requires a clear concept of ‘activity.’ The nature of ‘action’ is a central and unsolved philosophical problem. Actions play a crucial role in the way we conceive of ourselves, life and the Universe, and the value we put on these. In four decades of research on solar activity, we found that activity is not a mere occurrence but a genuine activity of the Sun, initiated globally by the S…Read more
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17The Helios TheoryProcess Studies 46 (2): 206-228. 2017.I summarize here the recent scientific achievements exploring the causal chain of solar activity. Following the causal chain has led to a novel comprehensive picture, including system-level regulation of local processes, such as the mass fiows in the solar interior I call attention to some crucial aspects of solar activity and present a series of facts that demand a revision of the old picture, according to which the Sun is a mere "hot ball of gas." For example, the magnetic changes of solar act…Read more
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4Astronomy and civilization in the new enlightenment: passions of the skies (edited book)Springer. 2010.This volume represents the first which interfaces with astronomy as the fulcrum of the sciences. It gives full expression to the human passion for the skies. Advancing human civilization has unfolded and matured this passion into the comprehensive science of astronomy. Advancing science’s quest for the first principles of existence meets the ontopoietic generative logos of life, the focal point of the New Enlightenment. It presents numerous perspectives illustrating how the interplay between hum…Read more
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275Genuine Biological Autonomy: How can the Spooky Finger of Mind play on the Physical Keyboard of the Brain?In Dr Gregory T. Papanikos (ed.), ATINER CONFERENCE PAPER SERIES No: PHI2012-0197, . 2012.Although biological autonomy is widely discussed, its description in scientific terms remains elusive. I present here a series of recent evidences on the existence of genuine biological autonomy. Nevertheless, nowadays it seems that the only acceptable ground to account for any natural phenomena, including biological autonomy, is physics. But if this were the case, then arguably there would be no way to account for genuine biological autonomy. The way out of such a situation is to build up an ex…Read more
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The nature of the Universe and the ultimate organizational principleUltimate Reality and Meaning 23 (1): 12-35. 2000.It is pointed out that the different concepts of the Universe serve as an ultimate basis determining the frames of consciousness. A unified concept of the Universe is explored which includes consciousness and matter as well to the universe of existents. Some consequences of the unified concept of the Universe are derived and shown to be able to solve the paradox of the self-founding notion of the Universe. The self-contained Universe is indicated to possess a logical nature. It is shown that a p…Read more
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32Invited essay Peak experiences and the natural universe—Metaphysical explorations of a cosmological physicistWorld Futures 44 (1): 1-13. 1995.Among the most exciting experiences in our lives are the ones that arouse a magical rapture within us. This may happen when we become engrossed in a musical piece, when dancing becomes ecstatic, when we are passionately in love (or making love) or when we experience an intuitive perception or an altered state of consciousness, get caught by the spell of the infinity of the Universe or the splendor of nature; it can also happen during telepathic contact or in lucid dreams. What I shall try to out…Read more
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286A Biological Account of Design in NatureIn Swan Liz, Gordon Richard & Seckbach Joseph (eds.), Origin of Design in Nature, . 2012.We consider first the most fundamental „design in Nature”, the explanatory structure of the Universe on the basis of the natural sciences, and the related problem of teleology in Nature. We point out that it is necessary to generalize the presently used explanatory scheme of physics. We derive here the first essentially complete scientific world picture, and obtain new insights answering to the problem of cosmic design. Considering some important objections against teleology, we present counter-…Read more
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1126On the Fundamental Worldview of the Integral Culture: Integrating Science, Religion, and Art: Part TwoWorld Futures 59 (7): 535-556. 2003.In the present essay I suggest that the main reason why history failed to develop societies in harmony with Nature, including our internal nature as well, is that we failed to evaluate the exact basis of the factor ultimately governing our thoughts. We failed to realise that it is the worldview that ultimately governs our thoughts and through our thoughts, our actions. In this work I consider the ultimate foundations of philosophy, science, religion, and art, pointing out that they were and ca…Read more
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826The Origin of Cellular Life and BiosemioticsBiosemiotics (3): 1-15. 2013.Recent successes of systems biology clarified that biological functionality is multilevel. We point out that this fact makes it necessary to revise popular views about macromolecular functions and distinguish between local, physico-chemical and global, biological functions. Our analysis shows that physico-chemical functions are merely tools of biological functionality. This result sheds new light on the origin of cellular life, indicating that in evolutionary history, assignment of biological fu…Read more
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157The physics of collective consciousnessWorld Futures 48 (1): 23-56. 1997.ABSTRACT: It is pointed out that the organisation of an organism necessarily involves fields which are the only means to make an approximately simultaneous tuning of the different subsystems of the organism-as-a-whole. Nature uses the olfactory fields, the acoustic fields, the electromagnetic fields and quantum-vacuum fields. Fields with their ability to comprehend the whole organism are the natural basis of a global interaction between organisms and of collective consciousness. Evidences are pr…Read more
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986The Fundamental Principles of Existence and the Origin of Physical LawsUltimate Reality and Meaning 25 (2): 127-147. 2002.Our concept of the universe and the material world is foundational for our thinking and our moral lives. In an earlier contribution to the URAM project I presented what I called 'the ultimate organizational principle' of the universe. In that article (Grandpierre 2000, pp. 12-35) I took as an adversary the wide-spread system of thinking which I called 'materialism'. According to those who espouse this way of thinking, the universe consists of inanimate units or sets of material such as atoms or …Read more
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634Biological AutonomyPhilosophy Study 2 (9): 631-649. 2012.We argue that genuine biological autonomy, or described at human level as free will, requires taking into account quantum vacuum processes in the context of biological teleology. One faces at least three basic problems of genuine biological autonomy: (1) if biological autonomy is not physical, where does it come from? (2) Is there a room for biological causes? And (3) how to obtain a workable model of biological teleology? It is shown here that the solution of all these three problems is related…Read more
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60The dynamics of time and timelessness: Philosophy, physics and prospects for our lifeIn Metod Saniga (ed.), The Nature of Time: Geometry, Physics & Perception, eds. R. Buccheri, M. Saniga and W. M. Stuckey, NATO Science Series: II: Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry : Volume 95, Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2003.Abstract. We point out that physical behavior is directed by the action principle (or Hamilton principle), while biological behavior is governed by the Bauer-principle which is directed against the action principle. Therefore, the ontological structure of reality have to be at least two-levelled. Consequently, we may escape from the paradoxes of endo-physics, since they arise from putting the observer into a physical context and compressing the ontological structure of reality into a one-levelle…Read more
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88A review of: "Information theory, evolution and the origin of life as a digital message how life resembles a computer" (review)World Futures 62 (5). 2006.(2006). A Review of: “Information Theory, Evolution and the Origin of Life as a Digital Message How Life Resembles a Computer”. World Futures: Vol. 62, No. 5, pp. 401-403
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347The universal organisation principle as ultimate reality and meaningUltimate Reality and Meaning 23 12-35. 2000.It is pointed out that the different concepts of the Universe serve as an ultimate basis determining the frames of consciousness. A unified concept of the Universe is explored which includes consciousness and matter as well to the universe of existents. Some consequences of the unified concept of the Universe are derived and shown to be able to solve the paradox of the self-founding notion of the Universe. The self-contained Universe is indicated to possess a logical nature. It is shown that a p…Read more
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148Measurement of collective and social fields of consciousnessWorld Futures 57 (1): 85-94. 2001.It is possible to reveal and to examine the collective and social fields of consciousness experimentally. An account is given of planned experiments based on quantitative calculations, which indicate that the effects of individual and collective fields of consciousness on matter may elicit directly observable physical results. Moreover, it is shown that collective coherent consciousness fields may enhance the physical effects of consciousness at a significant rate. The predicted results have a s…Read more
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28On the First Principle of Biology and the Foundation of the Universal ScienceAnalecta Husserliana 107 19-36. 2011.We propose to replace the present, 400 years-old scientific world picture with an updated, essentially complete model describing the architecture of the Universe. We show that three levels of reality, namely: phenomena, laws and first principles, together form the Universe. Moreover, on the basis of observable behaviour, phenomena, laws and principles can be classified into three fundamentally different branches of natural sciences: physical, biological and psychological. It is shown that the fi…Read more
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405The Nature of the Universe and the Ultimate Organisational Principle, to appear inUltimate Reality and Meaning 23 12-35. 2000.It is pointed out that the different concepts of the Universe serve as an ultimate basis determining the frames of consciousness. A unified concept of the Universe is explored which includes consciousness and matter as well to the universe of existents. Some consequences of the unified concept of the Universe are derived and shown to be able to solve the paradox of the self-founding notion of the Universe. The self-contained Universe is indicated to possess a logical nature. It is shown that a p…Read more
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495A Review of:“Information Theory, Evolution and the Origin of Life as a Digital Message How Life Resembles a Computer” Second Edition. Hubert P. Yockey, 2005, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 400 pages, index; hardcover, US $60.00; ISBN: 0-521-80293-8 (review)World Futures 62 (5): 401-403. 2006.Information Theory, Evolution and The Origin ofLife: The Origin and Evolution of Life as a Digital Message: How Life Resembles a Computer, Second Edition. Hu- bert P. Yockey, 2005, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 400 pages, index; hardcover, US $60.00; ISBN: 0-521-80293-8. The reason that there are principles of biology that cannot be derived from the laws of physics and chemistry lies simply in the fact that the genetic information content of the genome for constructing even the simplest…Read more
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52Http://www.researchgate.net/publication/234006998Genuine_Biological_Autonomy_How_can_the_Spooky_Finger_of_Mind_play_on_the_Physical_Keyboard_of_theBrainIn Gregory Papanikos (ed.), Proceeding of: Athens Institute for Education and Research ATINER ATINER's Conference Paper Series PHI2012-0197, At Athens, . 2012.Although biological autonomy is widely discussed, its description in scientific terms remains elusive. I present here a series of recent evidences on the existence of genuine biological autonomy. Nevertheless, nowadays it seems that the only acceptable ground to account for any natural phenomena, including biological autonomy, is physics. But if this were the case, then arguably there would be no way to account for genuine biological autonomy. The way out of such a situation is to build up an ex…Read more
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136On the fundamental worldview of the integral culture: Integrating science, religion, and art: Part oneWorld Futures 59 (6). 2003.In the present essay the author suggests that the main reason why history failed to develop societies in harmony with Nature, including our internal nature as well, is that we failed to evaluate the exact basis of the factor ultimately governing our thoughts. We failed to realize that it is the worldview that ultimately governs our thoughts and through our thoughts, our actions. In this work we consider the ultimate foundations of philosophy, science, religion, and art, pointing out that they we…Read more
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1637Acknowledging that Nature is one unified whole, we expect that physics and biology are intimately related. Keeping in mind that physics became an exact science with which we are already familiar with, while, apparently, we do not have at present a similar knowledge about biology, we consider how can we make useful the clarity of physics to shed light to biology. The next question will be what are the most basic categories of physics and biology. If we do not want to cut laws of Nature into diffe…Read more