From: Integral World NL [frank.visser@eurorscg.nl]
Sent: zondag 8 oktober 2006 15:27
To: Frank Visser
Subject: [personal] Views of Human Nature

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Newsletter Nr. 167
Amsterdam, October 9, 2006



WILBER WATCH BLOG: 
http://wilberwatch.blogspot.com/


I have decided to publish my 1995 book "Seven Spheres" in 
chapters on Integral World, since it provides the background 
to my Reading Room essays on perennialism. We will start with Chapter 2:



VIEWS OF HUMAN NATURE

"Who or what is a human being? This question has been answered 
over the centuries in very diverse ways. The human being has been 
presented as a divine entity, descended from higher spheres to the 
earth; as a highly developped animal, with a long evolutionary 
history; or as the result of an accidental combination of atoms. 
And nowadays the human being is seen as a very sophisticated computer, 
capable of complex mental behavior, but still fundamentally material, 
if we are to believe the leading philosophers of consciousness. 
The search for an ultimate answer to the question of the essence 
of human nature seems to be doomed from the start." 

"In this chapter we will make our goal a bit less ambitious. 
Our aim will be to establish some order in the multitude of 
views of human nature that can be found in religious and scientific 
sources. The main ordering principle we are going to use is that of `
numerical complexity'. Views of human nature can be ranked from simple 
to complex, depending on the number of different `parts' of human 
nature they acknowledge. And the more complex views of human nature 
can exlain more of the complexities of human nature, as we will see." 

Read more:
http://www.integralworld.net/visser-ss-2.html


TABLE OF CONTENTS:

http://www.integralworld.net/visser-ss-toc.html



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Frank Visser, Waterpoortweg 279, 1051 pv, Amsterdam

Author of: Ken Wilber: Thought as Passion SUNY 2003

Read all about Ken Wilber : http://www.integralworld.net

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