In this paper, we demonstrate (1) how harnessing stochasticity can be the basis of creative agency; (2) that such harnessing can resolve the apparent conflict between reductionist (micro-level) accounts of behaviour and behaviour as the outcome of rational and value-driven (macro-level) decisions; (3) how neurophysiological processes can instantiate such behaviour; (4) The processes involved depend on three features of living organisms: (a) they are necessarily open systems; (b) micro-level systems therefore nest within higher-level systems; (c) causal interactions must occur across (...) all the boundaries between the levels of organization. The higher levels constrain the dynamics of lower levels. The experimental evidence and theoretical arguments are shown to be consistent with previous research on the neuronal mechanisms of conscious choice, and with the interconnected multi-level processes by which organisms harness stochasticity, whether conscious or unconscious. (shrink)

Life is definitively purposive and creative. Organisms use genes in controlling their destiny. This book presents a paradigm shift in understanding living systems. The genome is not a code, blueprint or set of instructions. It is a tool orchestrated by the system. This book shows that gene-centrism misrepresents what genes are and how they are used by living systems. It demonstrates how organisms make choices, influencing their behaviour, their development and evolution, and act as agents of natural selection. It presents (...) a novel approach to fundamental philosophical and cultural issues, such as free-will. Reading this book will make you see life in a new light, as a marvellous phenomenon, and in some sense a triumph of evolution. We are not in our genes, our genes are in us. (shrink)

When we ask the question, 'what is the purpose of education?' we are asking, 'what is the purpose of educating human beings?' and any sincere answer to this question can only be advanced following our reflections upon the interrelated question, 'what do we mean by being human?' This 'Who are We?' question is embedded, though usually not explicitly, in school inspection regimes, in day-to-day teaching practice, and in all educational dialogue and policy. It affects the wellbeing of those on the (...) frontline of education. But it is possible for staff, policy makers and academics to uncover these hidden assumptions, explore counter-narratives, and transform school curricula in the light of these reformed narratives. The author approaches these questions from a Christian Contemplative standpoint, via Radical Orthodoxy (RO)--an academic, persuasive and polemical sensibility--and through the prayerful and relational aspiration of the contemplative tradition. It takes as a central case study the inspection of a school by the UK Government inspection body, Ofsted, the Office for Standards in Education. (shrink)