The prefrontal cortex has long been suspected to play an important role in cognitive control, in the ability to orchestrate thought and action in accordance with internal goals. Its neural basis, however, has remained a mystery. Here, we propose that cognitive control stems from the active maintenance of patterns of activity in the prefrontal cortex that represent goals and the means to achieve them. They provide bias signals to other brain structures whose net effect is to guide the flow of (...) activity along neural pathways that establish the proper mappings between inputs, internal states, and outputs needed to perform a given task. We review neurophysiological, neurobiological, neuroimaging, and computational studies that support this theory and discuss its implications as well as further issues to be addressed. (shrink)

WITH A PREFACE BY W. Y. Evans-Wentz M.A. D.Litt. D.Sc.

Freedom of will is fundamental to morality, intuition of self, and normal functioning of society. However, science does not provide a clear logical foundation for this idea. This paper considers the fundamental argument against free will, so called reductionism, and why the choice for dualism against monism, follows logically. Then, the paper summarizes unexpected conclusions from recent discoveries in cognitive science. Classical logic turns out not to be a fundamental mechanism of the mind. It is replaced by dynamic logic. Mathematical (...) and experimental evidence are considered conceptually. Dynamic logic counters logical arguments for reductionism. Contemporary science of mind is not reducible; free will can be scientifically accepted along with scientific monism. (shrink)

The view of evil human nature is important in Chinese and western cultures. The thesis chooses evil human in St. Augustine’s thoughts and Hsun Tzu’s thoughts to compare and analyze evil in these two. St. Augustine, who is called “the Saint of God”, views the definition of evil, the resource of it, and salvations of it from the aspect of religious beliefs. He considers that evil is the privation of goodness and is not created by God. Because God is omnipotent (...) and all-good, it is impossible for God to create evil. Evil results from the free will of human beings themselves. If people want to attain their salvations, they should use their free will to choose good will and follow the goodness given by God. Hsun Tzu, one of Confucian scholars, puts forward evil human nature which is totally different from good human nature in Confucianism. He views the definition of evil, the source of it, and ways to change evil into good from the angle of social reality in Warring States Period. In Hsun Tzu’s views, evil results from the uninhibited extension of sound physical needs and desires for living. Hsun Tzu believes that human nature is evil and goodness comes from nurture, therefore, converting evil into good is to change human nature through nurturing. By further comparison and analysis, the thesis further looks into these two perspectives from their differences and similarities. It states their differences from five aspects: backgrounds, ways to change evil to good, categories, historical status, and positions of human beings. Apart from those, the thesis also refers to their similarities to complement the comparative analysis. From comparison and analysis, we can draw two conclusions: first, evil human nature from Hsun Tzu is simple in connotation and relatively objective compared with the view of St. Augustine; second, St. Augustine thinks that human beings are equal in front of evil, which has positive significance compared with the ideas posed by Hsun Tzu who insists on the distinction between saint and ordinary people, between monarchs and their subjects. (shrink)

While some are currently debating whether time may or may not be an illusion, others keep devoting their time to the science of consciousness. Time as such may be seen as a physical or a subjective variable, and the limitations in our capacity of perceiving and analyzing temporal order and change in physical events definitely constrain our understanding of consciousness which, in return, constrains our conceptual under-standing of time. Temporal codes generated in the brain have been considered as the key (...) to insight into neural function and, ultimately, as potential neural substrates of consciousness itself. On the basis of cur-rent evidence and opinion from neuroscience and philosophy, we consider the interrelation between con-sciousness and time in the light of Hegel and Heidegger’s concepts of Sein (Being) and Zeit (Time). We suggest that consciousness can be defined in terms of a succession of psychological moments where we realize that we exist in, and are part of, a present moment in time. This definition places all other percep-tual or sensorial processes which may characterize phenomenal experience at a different level of analysis and centers the debate around consciousness on the fundamental identity link between awareness of the Ich (I) and awareness of what Heidegger termed Ursprüngliche Zeit (original time). We argue that human consciousness has evolved from the ability to be aware of, to remember, and to predict temporal order and change in nature, and that the limits of this capacity are determined by limits in the functional plasticity of resonant brain mechanisms. Although the conscious state of the Self is the ultimate expression of this evolution, it is devoid of any adaptive function as such. (shrink)