Clarify Agentic Unity of Self
- Giulio Tononi: Integrated Information Theory (IIT), consciousness as emergent from integrated information, no need for a soul.
- Thomas Metzinger: The Ego Tunnel, self as a brain-generated simulation, functional but not ontologically substantial.
- Daniel Dennett: Consciousness Explained, self as a "center of narrative gravity," a useful fiction for agency.
- Francisco Varela: Autopoiesis and enactivism, self as emergent from dynamic biological-environmental interactions.
- Anil Seth: Predictive processing, self as a predictive model constructed by the brain for action coordination.
Naturalist View of Theological Virtues (Faith, Hope, Charity)
- Jonathan Haidt: The Righteous Mind, moral foundations theory, virtues as evolved for group cohesion and cooperation.
- Robert Trivers: Reciprocal altruism, charity as an evolutionary strategy for mutual benefit in social groups.
- Jesse Bering: The Belief Instinct, faith as a cognitive adaptation for social norm enforcement via supernatural agents.
- Kent Berridge: Neuroscience of reward, hope linked to dopaminergic circuits motivating goal-directed behavior.
- E.O. Wilson: Group selection, virtues like charity enhancing group survival over individual fitness.
Illusion of Self and Buddhist Parallels
- Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha): Anatta doctrine, self as an illusion, consciousness as interdependent processes.
- Nagarjuna: Madhyamaka philosophy, emptiness (shunyata), rejecting inherent self-existence while acknowledging conventional agency.
- Jay Garfield: Engaging Buddhism, modern interpretation of anatta compatible with cognitive science.
- Owen Flanagan: The Bodhisattva’s Brain, naturalized Buddhism, self as a functional construct without metaphysical essence.
- Mark Siderits: Buddhism as Philosophy, reconciling anatta with agentic unity via reductionist accounts of personhood.
Simulation Hypothesis and Ontological Implications
- Nick Bostrom: Are We Living in a Computer Simulation?, existence as potentially computational, self as a process within a simulation.
- David Chalmers: Reality+, consciousness as substrate-independent, viable in simulated or biological systems.
- Donald Hoffman: The Case Against Reality, reality as an interface, self as a user interface for evolutionary fitness.
- Joscha Bach: Synthetic cognition, self as a computational model for decision-making in simulated or real environments.
Social and Evolutionary Role of Non-Falsifiable Beliefs
- Eric Hoffer: The True Believer, non-falsifiable beliefs (e.g., God) as tools for group identity and exclusion.
- Emile Durkheim: The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, religion and beliefs as projections of social structures.
- Pascal Boyer: Religion Explained, cognitive basis of religious beliefs, evolved for social coordination.
- David Sloan Wilson: Darwin’s Cathedral, religion and virtues as adaptations for group-level cooperation.
- Norenzayan & Shariff: The Origin and Evolution of Religious Prosociality, beliefs enhancing trust and cooperation in large groups.