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Abstract

Abstract – We report a series of experiments with the famous Libet paradigm regarding the question of free will. The classic, often replicated findings of this experimental paradigm show how the Bereitschaftspotential (readiness potential) – extracted from the EEG signal – clearly develops before the conscious intention to act. This finding is often taken as proof of deterministic causation of conscious deliberation. However, we show that the assessed EEG correlates result from averaging spontaneous or task-related EEG fluctuations which could promote the action but do not necessarily determine the action. Moreover, our studies with experienced meditators of mindfulness practice indicate that they are more sensitive to phase states of the EEG fluctuations.

Keywords: Libet task – free will – mindfulness – meditation – EEG

Abstract

Abstract – This paper deals critically with the implicit scientific basics of SETI research. It turns out that the axioms of the SETI paradigm are largely shaped by unquestioned anthropocentric assumptionp. This also applies to the communication with supposed extraterrestrial civilizationp. In this context, experiences from human history in the deciphering of texts of extinct cultures must be considered as well as basics of communication theory and existential human fearp. Without a critical review of the tacit assumptions of our recent search for extraterrestrial intelligence it remains only a search for a distorted image of ourselves.

Keywords: SETI research – anthropology – extraterrestrial civilizations – maximum strangers – communication with aliens

Abstract

Abstract – Between 1724 and 1760, in the frontier area of the Habsburg empire waves of a hitherto unknown epidemic disease emerged: vampirism. In remote villages of southeastern Europe, cases of unusual deaths were reported. Corpses did not decay and, according to the villagers, corporeal ghosts were haunting their relatives and depriving them of their vital force. Death occurred by no later than three to four dayp. The colonial administration, alarmed by the threat of an epidemic illness, dispatched military officers and physicians to examine the occurrencep. Soon several reports and newspaper articles circulated and made the untimely resurrection of the dead known to the perplexed public, Europe-wide. "Vampyrus Serviensis", the Serbian vampire, became an intensively discussed phenomenon within academe, and thereby gained factual standing. My paper depicts the geopolitical context of the vampire’s origin within the Habsburg statep. Secondly, it outlines the epistemological difficulties faced by observing physicians in the field. Thirdly, it delineates the scholarly debate on the apparent oxymoron of the living dead in the era of enlightened reason. Fourthly, the early history of vampirism shows that ghosts and encounters with the undead are not superstitious relics of a pre-modern past, or the Enlightenment’s other, but intimate companions of Western modernity.

Keywords: 18th century – decay – enlightenment – military medicine – nachzehrer – revenant – Southeastern Europe – tradition – transformation – undead – unusual deaths – vampires – vital force

Abstract

Abstract – This paper discusses some of the different meanings appointed to the spiritual centre of Heinrich Himmler’s SS in Wewelsburg, including the Black Sun symbol, a floor mosaic in the North Tower of the castle. Wewelsburg Castle and more recently the Black Sun have during the last decades become established as a token of Nazi esotericism – or occultism, the term I will use here – both in popular culture and in parts of the western esoteric underground as well as in more or less pro-Nazi circles.

Keywords: Wewelsburg – Nazi-Occultism – Occulture – Memory culture – Myth

Abstract

Abstract – Hans Driesch (1867-1941) may not have been a truly exceptional human being on a par with his contemporaries, Max Planck (1858-1947) or Albert Einstein (1879-1955). But he was a very special individual nonethelesp. Science was his life, and vitalism as an idea and a philosophy were his passion. He never wanted to put himself to the fore, and he was always ready to question his own views or have them questioned by otherp. From being a biologist and an experimentalist he gradually evolved into a philosopher, which after all he considered himself throughout most of his academic career. To Driesch this was not a change from one discipline to a different one, but rather following up the same idea by other meanp. This paper will be about Driesch the human being, about Driesch the philosopher, and about Driesch the parapsychologist. Primarily, however, it will be about his basic idea of vitalism and entelechy as an active principle.

Keywords: Hans Driesch – biology – entelechy – evolution – vitalism – philosophy – parapsychology