A Cartoon Epistemology for Neuroscientists (via Merlin)

"A Cartoon Epistemology" for neuroscientists in three parts (by ophtalmological cognitive scientist Steve Lehar, 2003), including a selection of follow-up discussions (e.g., a summary of the one with David Chalmers)

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Addendum: Lehan's ideas overlap with Thomas Metzinger's phenomenal self-model and the phenomenal model of the intentionality relation (succinctly described in this 2004 paper The Subjectivity of Subjective Experience: A Representationalist Analysis of the First-Person Perspective) and the seminal approach of sensorimotor contingencies as put forward in 2000 by Alva Noë and Kevin O'Regan (who also prefers hand-drawn manikins to illustrate his theories).

Phenomenology and Neurophenomenology Resources Online

For the eleventh anniversary of Francisco Varela's untimely death, I compiled a couple of online resources about phenomenology and neurophenomenology (to be continued).

Audio and Video:

• Youtube playlist of the videos of the 2011 conference "Embodiment of Life" - mainly on the legacy of Francisco Varela (see also the upcoming 2012 version)
• Youtube playlist of ~70 videos on Phenomenology: mainly about or with Heidegger but also including Husserl, Jaspers, Dreyfus as well as Nietzsche
• Audio files of Hubert Dreyfus' 2011 lecture on Heidegger's Being and Time (Phil 185) at Berkeley
• Video of the panel discussion "The Reflective Self" at Columbia in 2008 with Dan Zahavi, Evan Thompson and others
• Audio and video files (plus transcripts) of the 2006 symposium "Mind and Reality" at Columbia

Blogs:

• "Neurophenomenology" maintained by Owen McNally, PhD - includes a nice historic overview(part 1, part 2, part 3)
• "Learning Philosophy of Change" by Giorgio Bertini, particularly the posts tagged "Varela"

Texts:

• 2004 special issue of Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences on "Naturalizing Phenomenology" (edited by Antoine Lutz)
• Thomas Nagel (1974) What is it like to be a bat? (pdf)
• David Chalmers' collection of online texts on Phenomenology and Consciousness and the same topics at PhilPapers

Kandel's Reconciliation? "Age of Insight" to appear

I have to admit that 650 pages about "The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present" is quite a good excuse for the constantly postponed publication of "Principles of Neural Science - Ed. 5".
Eric Kandel's "Age of Insight" to appear soon.

Stanley Kubrick Animated Gifs

A sequence of subtle and creepy animated gifs from Stanley Kubrick movies, very unusual in times of quick and flashy digital everyday life (via brainpickings).

#400: Tempo, tempo, tempo, tempo (via Ley)

Fittingly to the beginning of a new year and as blog post number 400:
Caetano Veloso's Oração ao tempo (lyrics here)



and the version by Rita Ribeiro

Berlins Gentrifizierung als Pappmaschee-Puppentrick

"Was ist eigentlich Gentrifizierung?" - eine Pappsatt "für den Kiez" Produktion
in einer schönen Pappmaché-Puppentrick-Animation, die an die Augsburger Puppenkiste erinnert.



und der Soundtrack aus dem Abspann, "Ich brauch mehr Geld für Berlin" von John Doe

Unlike U - Trainwriting in Berlin

Highly recommended! The fascinating and comprehensive documentary "Unlike U - Trainwriting in Berlin" about the Graffiti train writing scene in Berlin has been put online in full-length and with english subtitles:

UNLIKE U-Trainwriting in Berlin from HISKICK productions on Vimeo.

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"...the moviemakers and producers are recently fighting legally for the ongoing distribution of UNLIKE U.
The Berlin transport company (BVG) has sued us in order to refrain us from distributing the movie regarding the places the action documented in UNLIKE U took place in.
To understand all of this you’ve got to see the movie yourself..."

There are ways of supporting them!