Contents in detail: Abstract 1. BASIC CAUSAL RELATIONS Causation and volition Causality and modality Spontaneity Relative vs. absolute contingency
2.
INTERACTIONS BETWEEN VOLITION AND CAUSATION
Necessity and inertia in causation
Direct and indirect volition
Matter-mind and spirit
Conceiving Divine volition
The study of volition
3.
FURTHER ANALYSIS OF VOLITION
Knowledge of volition
Freedom of the will
Decision and choice
Goals and means
4.
CONSCIOUSNESS AND RESPONSIBILITY
The consciousness in volition
The factors of responsibility
Judging, and misjudging, people
5.
INFLUENCE AND FREEDOM
Influence occurs via consciousness
Knowledge of effort, influence and freedom
Formal analysis of influence
Incitement
6.
FURTHER ANALYSIS OF INFLUENCE
Some features of influence
Processes of influence
Instincts in relation to freewill
Liberation from unwanted influences
Propositions about the future
Cultural context and epistemological considerations
Theoretical context
Stages in the process of volition
The scope of freewill
8.
VOLITION AND THE SPECIAL SCIENCES
Volition and the laws of physics
Volition and biology
Therapeutic psychology
9.WILL, VELLEITY AND WHIM
Cognition, volition and valuation
Velleity
Whim
Inner divisions
10.
AFFECTIONS AND APPETITES
Valuation
The main valuations
Ethology
11.
COMPLICATIONS OF INFLUENCE
Habits
Obsessions and compulsions
The ego abhors a vacuum
12.
URGES AND IMPULSES Physical urges and
impulses Mental urges and
impulses Formal analysis of
physical and mental urges Are there drives
within the soul? Formal analysis of
spiritual urges
13.
THE QUASI-PURPOSIVE IN NATURE
Purposiveness
Organic functions
The continuity of life
14.
CONCEPTS OF EVOLUTION
The logical form of evolution
Evidence for evolution
Random mutation
Natural selection
15.
MORE ABOUT EVOLUTION
Social Darwinism
Spiritual Darwinism
Theological perspectives
16.
THE SELF
Ungluing the mind
Abstract vs. concrete self
Sundry reflections on the soul and God
17.
SOME TOPICS IN DEONTOLOGY
Founding ethics
Ethics concerns the living, thinking, willing
Conscience and conformism
Tai Chi, karma yoga and faith
18.
MORE TOPICS IN DEONTOLOGY
Inducing ethics
Ethical formulas
Philosophy of law
APPENDIXES
Some formal logic guidelines
Aristotle’s four causes
REFERENCES About “Causal Logic” See also: Ruminations, chapter 8. |