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 SpiritualDarwinism 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. |