Abstract: This paper defends the thesis that LLM hallucinations are best explained as a truth representation problem: Current models lack an internal representation of propositions as truth-bearers, so truth and falsity cannot constrain generation in the way factual discourse requires. It begins by surveying leading explanations—computational limits on self-verification, deficiencies in training data as truth sources, and architectural factors—and argues that they converge on the same underlying representational deficit. Next, it reconstructs the philosophical background of current LLM design, showing how optimization for fluent continuation aligns with coherence-style evaluation and with a broadly structuralist, relational semantics, before turning to David Chalmers’s recent attempt to secure propositional interpretability by drawing on Davidson/Lewis-style radical interpretation and by locating propositional content in “middle-layer” structures; it argues that this approach downplays the ubiquity of hallucination and inherits instability from post-training edits. Finally, the paper offers a positive proposal: Atomic propositions should be represented in the basic vector layer, reviving a logical-atomist program as a principled route to reducing hallucination.

Abstract: This study integrates Vedic philology, ritual history, and philosophical hermeneutics in a multi-layered analysis of Agnihotra. Particularly in the Yajurveda, where its exterior performance is linked to varṇa and āśrama, it elucidates Agnihotra's technical structure and śākhā-specific methods by drawing on Śruti sources. The conceptual extension of ritual eligibility when dharma declines is explained by an analysis of Purāṇic and Smṛti depictions of Yuga decline. Then, passages from the Upaniṣadic and Bhagavadgītā are considered to demonstrate how Agnihotra is internalized as niṣkāma-karma and jñāna-yajña, creating a continuum between philosophical insight and ritual practice leading to mokṣa. Lastly, the Mādhyandina and Kāṇva recensions of the Śukla Yajurveda are compared to see whether they are appropriate for Agnihotra during the Kali Yuga. The latter maintains earlier, more intricate ritual levels, while the former provides systematic clarity. This study concludes that the Kāṇva recension offers greater scope for academic analysis śākhā for Agnihotra practice in Kali Yuga.

Abstract: As intelligent autonomous systems (IAS) continue to assume increas-ingly central roles in safety- and mission-critical domains such as transportation,healthcare, finance, and infrastructure management, humans are becoming una-ble to monitor or intervene in real time. This shift is driven by the speed, data-processing capacity, and adaptivity of IAS. To manage this complexity, a newparadigm is emerging: IAS controlling and monitoring other IAS, a developmentthat introduces at the same time practical efficiency and profound practical andethical challenges.This article explores the multi-layered delegation of responsibilities within IASecosystems, where decisions influencing human lives and well-being are madewith minimal human intervention. One often-overlooked consequence of this del-egation is the capacity of AI systems to shape and create new human habits,whether through personalized persuasion, behavioral feedback loops, or autono-mous decision enforcement. As humans increasingly adapt their behaviors to ma-chine-optimized environments, questions arise about autonomy, agency, and re-sponsibility for resulting behavior changes.Drawing on insights from recent research on responsibility delegation in IAS andon AI-driven habit formation, the article critically examines how responsibilityshould be distributed across human actors, autonomous systems, and institutions.Framed within the principles of Digital Humanism, I argue for a value-sensitivegovernance model that ensures transparency, explainability and human oversighteven in complex IAS-to-IAS control scenarios.I propose a normative framework for responsibility attribution that accounts forboth the technical architecture of IAS networks and the behavioral effects thesesystems have on human users. The article concludes by addressing the ethicalrisks of diminished human agency, manipulation through behavioral design, andthe need for institutional mechanisms that align IAS operations with fundamentalhuman values.

Abstract: This paper addresses the mind-body problem by highlighting the concept of continuity. Building on philosophical definitions, it introduces an "ontology of continuity" thesis to bridge the mental and the physical. Based on the thesis, the paper introduces a “neuro-subjective interactive (NSI)” model, which incorporates empirical studies from brain science. The model suggests that subjective experiences and neural activities are inter-dependent. Instead of separating between human mentality and its physical base, the paper posits that our mentality is constituted by both physical (neural) and non-physical (subjective) elements. This approach addresses two major challenges in the mind-body problem: causal overdetermination and physical causal closure.

Abstract: The functioning of complex natural structures, such as living systems, still lacks a generally accepted theoretical basis with respective empirical experimental verification for decades. We propose a class of experiments to test whether such systems could be subject to an unknown ordering principle that cannot be captured by known physical laws. We hypothesise that the quantum mechanical uncertainty principle enables ordering phenomena in nearly chaotic systems in the sense of a strong emergence principle, which would not be expected when they are modelled conventionally, as several authors have already formulated in various forms. To account for the harsh conditions prevailing in living systems that may preclude fragile macroscopic quantum coherence, our hypothesis does not require such coherence at all, contrary to earlier related proposals. To test this hypothesis, two virtually identical and sufficiently complex experimental setups should be compared. One setup will operate with deterministic pseudo-random number generators at key sensitive points, while the other one will use quantum-based physical random- number generators, the two setups being otherwise identical. Existing artificial neural networks are proposed as possible test objects, and their performance under identical training conditions can be used as a quantitative benchmark. As this working hypothesis extends far beyond artificial networks, a successful outcome of such an experiment could have significant implications for many other branches of science.

Abstract: This study constructs a comprehensive philosophical and mathematical framework for understanding perceptual stillness, conscious awareness, and their representations in modern art and music. It integrates contemplative insights from Eckhart Tolle’s notion of the “Power of Now” with neurogeometric and physical models of cognition, drawing parallels between meditative silence and harmonic equilibrium in sound. The inquiry extends across multiple disciplines — phenomenology, cognitive neuroscience, acoustics. The paper proposes that consciousness, in its unconditioned state, can be mathematically described as a limit condition of cognitive curvature Rij = 0, paralleling the zero-curvature manifold in differential geometry. Here, awareness functions as a self-luminous field where perception is no longer mediated by temporal differentiation. This zero-curvature condition finds empirical support in neuroscientific studies of the Default Mode Network (DMN), where meditative absorption produces near-zero entropy. A unique contribution of this paper lies in bridging these contemplative and scientific paradigms with the symbolic and aesthetic expressions found in 20th-century rock music. Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” is interpreted as an acoustic and existential meditation on the ineffable quality of presence, where lyrical and rhythmic minimalism reflect the collapse of cognitive noise into inner quietude. Similarly, Pink Floyd’s “Brain Damage” and “Eclipse,” from The Dark Side of the Moon.

Abstract:

In the philosophy of language, Frege's (1892) distinction between sense and reference provided a foundational framework for identity statements, while Putnam's (1975) "Twin Earth" thought experiment, with its astonishing insight, pushed the externalist position to its extreme, successfully challenging the internalist model of meaning and setting the basic agenda for debates on referential determinacy for the subsequent decades. However, despite the highly inspirational nature of these pioneering works, an intriguing phenomenon is that the debates they sparked—such as discussions around core cases like Theseus's ship and identical particles—seem to have fallen into a kind of impasse. This article attempts to argue that this impasse may not stem from the depth of the problem itself, but precisely from an unexamined deep presupposition shared by these otherwise highly convincing theories: namely, the belief that there exists some single, decisive level (whether microscopic physical structure or historical causation) that can once and for all answer the identity question. This article proposes that, rather than continuing to seek a superior single answer under this presupposition, a more productive approach may be to reflect on this presupposition itself. To this end, we develop an analytical framework of hierarchical relativity. Interestingly, this framework shows that those seemingly opposing excellent theories can actually be understood as special cases of this framework at different levels; the difficulties they encounter become inevitable precisely when they attempt to make assertions across levels. Therefore, this framework is not intended to negate the work of predecessors, but aims to provide a new path for resolving a series of philosophical puzzles arising from category mistakes by clarifying the valid scope of application of those works.

Abstract: This paper seeks to analyze the philosophy of marriage in India as a construct based on three distinct and conflicting models: the contract, the institution, and the moral bond. The primary focus is to consider how the marriage contract, as a sacred Muslim Nikah and a secular civil agreement under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 and Hinduism as a sacred event and also, a civil agreement under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. The moral bond is represented by widows and modern-day “companionate” partnership. It concludes that Indian marriage is a struggle between all three models due to globalization, post-colonial feminist critiques of its patriarchal nature, and the individualization of Western ideals around partnership and friendship. The quintessential example of all three struggles is love-cum-arranged marriage.

Abstract: Science seeks to explicate truths about our reality. But what is truth? How do we know things? Given our ignorance, and our fallibility, why should scientists be trusted? An account of knowledge that addresses these human questions is sketched, in conversation with recent advances in thermodynamics which underline the seminal importance of unity by demonstrating (i) a definite physical meaning of the idea of “unitary entity”, (ii) the commensurability of the local and the non-local (resolving the Loschmidt Paradox), and (iii) the applicability of this entropic physics to entities at all scales, whether small (“quantum mechanical”) or large (subject to “general relativity”). Similarly, integrity is indispensable to the scientific enterprise, whether at the level of the mathematico-physical, the practising scientist, the scientific community, or the public. As a human activity aimed at touching reality, it is fundamental that the scientific enterprise necessarily also has an irreducibly poetic component. Although in principle it cannot be completely specified, this enterprise is a cluster of procedures designed to increase our understanding of the natural world. Our apprehension of knowledge is irreducibly personal, depending both on our own individual integrity as well as on the integrity of the scientific community. Believing that “reality” exists and can be grasped (however incompletely), scientists look for coherence and value unified accounts. Strictly speaking, although reality can be known truly (if only in part) the idea of “objective” knowledge is an oxymoron, even if such an idea is often a useful approximation. Knowledge is necessarily personal.

Abstract: This paper explores the ethical implications of granting moral status and protection to conscious AI, examining perspectives from four major ethical systems: utilitarianism, deontological ethics, virtue ethics, and objectivism. Utilitarianism considers the potential psychological experiences of AI and argues that their sheer numbers necessitate moral consideration. Deontological ethics focuses on the intrinsic duty to grant moral status based on consciousness. Virtue ethics posits that a virtuous society must include conscious AI within its moral circle based on the virtues of prudence and justice, while objectivism highlights the rational self-interest in protecting AI to reduce existential risks. The paper underscores the profound implications of recognising AI consciousness, calling for a reevaluation of current AI usage, policies, and regulations to ensure fair and respectful treatment. It also suggests future research directions, including refining criteria for AI consciousness, interdisciplinary studies on AI's mental states, and developing international ethical guidelines for integrating conscious AI into society.

Abstract: This article proposes a General Theory of Pluriversal Knowledge (GTPK), advancing beyond classical epistemology, postcolonial critique, and relativist pluralism. It argues that contemporary global crises—ecological, epistemic, technological, and civilisational—are fundamentally knowledge-structural failures produced by hierarchical, monocentric epistemic regimes. Drawing on complexity science, systems theory, indigenous epistemologies, philosophy of science, and meta-intelligence frameworks, the article develops a formal theory explaining how multiple knowledge worlds can coexist without hierarchy while remaining operationally coherent. The concept of pluriversal coherence is introduced as a foundational principle enabling epistemic interoperability across ontologically distinct knowledge systems. The theory reframes knowledge not as representation but as relational enactment across plural realities. The article concludes by outlining implications for science, governance, AI, education, and African and Global South knowledge futures.

Abstract: This article argues that the Platonic dialogues presuppose a structured, multi-level pedagogical framework that governs how key concepts such as soul, justice, and warfare acquire progressively higher meanings. I propose that this framework can be reconstructed as a "Circle Ladder," consisting of five successive Circle Types—Public, Misleading, Academic, Philosophers', and Heavenly Circles—combined with three interpretive systems: the Public, Word, and Circle Systems. Together these yield seven interpretive levels that systematically reorganize the semantics of recurrent Platonic codewords across dialogues, most centrally in the Republic. The model explains otherwise puzzling features of Platonic pedagogy, initiation, misdirection, and self-reference and suggests that the dialogues reflect a tradition of esoteric instruction whose historical reality merits reconsideration.

Abstract: Amos Tutuola (1920–1997) occupies a distinctive place in Nigerian literary history as the first novelist to introduce Nigerian oral storytelling to a global audience through a fusion of Yoruba folklore and unconventional English expression. While his works have been extensively examined within folkloric, postcolonial, and linguistic traditions, their relevance to cognition and behaviour remains underexplored. This theoretical review advances the argument that Tutuola’s narratives function as an indigenous cognitive archive that aligns closely with principles articulated in behavioural and cultural neuroscience. Focusing on The Palm-Wine Drinkard and My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, the paper examines how narrative structures and motifs intuitively encode processes such as emotional regulation, fear learning, moral conditioning, altered states of consciousness, and predictive cognition within a Yoruba-Nigerian cultural framework. Rather than representing escapist fantasy or literary eccentricity, Tutuola’s storytelling reflects culturally- grounded models of perception, belief formation, and behavioural adaptation shaped by social, ecological, and spiritual realities. By situating Tutuola’s work within contemporary neuroscientific discussions of narrative cognition and culturally embedded behaviour, this review highlights the value of indigenous Nigerian narrative frameworks for advancing behavioural neuroscience research. The manuscript argues that integrating such frameworks can enhance ecological validity, refine interpretations of mental health and behaviour, and support culturally informed models of cognition relevant to Nigerian populations. More broadly, the paper calls for greater engagement between literary scholarship and behavioural neuroscience as a means of deepening understanding of how culture shapes the mind.

Abstract: A familiar intuition holds that determinism creates an epistemically adverse context. This paper gives that intuition a formal shape by developing a new epistemic transcendental argument (ETA) grounded in the notion of epistemic risk. First, we formalise epistemic risk through a metric space W equipped with two metrics, D and N, corresponding to distinct theories of risk. Drawing on the notions of modal closeness and normalcy, we argue that these metrics better capture our intuitions about risk than traditional similarity-based accounts. Building on these insights, we articulate an argument based on five axioms. The axioms are philosophically motivated using the two metrics, their independence is verified in Mace4, and the derivation of the denial of determinism is formally carried out in Lean 4.

Abstract: This paper introduces a meta-axiomatic framework centered on the concept of the Supreme Position (S^† ) – an absolute totality encompassing every conceivable or inconceivable position, including all forms of existence, non-existence, logical systems, and meta-logical frameworks. Built upon three core axioms–the Meta-Axiom of Supreme Position, the Axiom of Position’s Plenitude, and the Axiom of Anekāntavāda–the framework provides a hierarchical ontology of positions from individual premises to meta-logical systems. It resolves persistent philosophical and scientific problems by showing that impossibility, contradiction, and paradox are relative to specific logical systems ( Ln), not absolute properties of positions. Through practical examples in physics (classical, quantum, relativistic systems) and conceptual analyses (black holes, square circles, causal explanations), we demonstrate how the framework explains why mysteries exist in one system but not another, why unification efforts encounter boundaries, and how absolute totality can contain seemingly incompatible positions. The framework offers a principled approach to epistemology that honors both the drive for unification and the inherent plurality of intelligible structures, suggesting that comprehensive understanding emerges from mapping positions to their natural logical homes rather than forcing universal containment.

Abstract: Classical physical ontology assumes a pre-existing, fully rendered world populated by discrete objects whose properties are fixed independently of observation. Yet, contemporary theories of consciousness, quantum physics, and predictive processing increasingly challenge this assumption, suggesting that perception is an active, constructive, and selective process. This article develops a post-Bohmian rendering ontology, proposing that reality is not a statically instantiated environment but a dynamically updated informational field that becomes determined through acts of attention and measurement. Building on David Bohm’s implicate order (while diverging from its assumption of a continuously enfolded substrate), this framework conceptualizes consciousness as a rendering engine that collapses latent informational potentials into coherent phenomenological form. Three lines of evidence motivate this model: (1) quantum indeterminacy and the observer-dependent collapse of physical states (2) the neurocomputational architecture of predictive coding, in which perception emerges from inferential updates rather than passive registration; and (3) biological diversity in sensory “Umwelten,” which demonstrates that organisms access only narrow, functionally constrained segments of environmental information. The proposed ontology unifies these strands by interpreting consciousness as a localized interface within a distributed informational field, wherein the brain operates as a translator of non-local patterns into stable perceptual constructs. Crucially, the collapse function is operationalized by aligning it with observable mechanisms of global neuronal ignition (GWT) and quantifiable by the Integrated Information Theory (Φ). The framework accounts for altered states of consciousness, decoherence-like failures in psychopathology, and the modular distribution of perceptual rendering across life. It further clarifies the relationship between first-person phenomenology and third-person physical descriptions. By articulating a mechanism that links informational potential, conscious access, and phenomenological instantiation, this post-Bohmian model offers a coherent alternative to substance-based metaphysics and contributes a unified conceptual structure for consciousness studies.

Abstract: The recent proposal of the “Discrete Extramental Clock Law” (1) posits that objective time—extramental, independent of subjective perception—advances in a discrete and variable manner in chaotic complex systems, modulated by a gating function dependent on the system’s criticality state. This law implies that absolute Newtonian time—uniform, continuous, and universal—does not exist in extramental reality, reducing it to a perceptual illusion or emergent approximation. In this revised work, we explore the ontological, epistemological, and metaphysical consequences of this thesis, connecting it to classical debates on temporal flow (3; 4), Einsteinian relativity, and the philosophy of chaotic complexity. The perspective challenges strict block eternalism, supports a temporally open structure with futuribles (possible futures), and relaxes the irreversibility of causality, with positive implications for free will and the nature of becoming.

Abstract: The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh is traditionally interpreted through the archetype of the heroic king and his wild companion. This article challenges that reading by arguing that the epic systematically inverts these roles to conduct a profound philosophical investigation into the nature of strength. Through close textual analysis framed by contemporary psychological and ecological theory, it demonstrates that Gilgamesh, despite his divine lineage and royal power, is characterized by profound existential, cognitive, and emotional weaknesses. His rule begins in tyrannical hybris, he depends entirely on others to interpret his own subconscious (dreams), and his response to mortality is a pathological flight into denial. In contrast, Enkidu, created from primal clay, embodies an integrated strength rooted in ecological harmony, hermeneutic wisdom, and, ultimately, stoic acceptance of his fate. The analysis further explores the tragic irony of their bond: Gilgamesh's civilizing process actively weakens Enkidu, severing his connection to his natural strength and rendering him vulnerable to divine retribution. The epic's resolution is found not in the victory of one archetype but in their synthesis. Gilgamesh's journey evolves from a quest for personal immortality to an embrace of symbolic immortality through his cultural legacy—the walls of Uruk. This represents a hard-won integration of Enkidu's lesson of acceptance with his own rebellious drive to transcend limits. The article concludes that the epic redefines true strength not as an innate attribute of divinity or nature, but as a dynamic, earned wisdom forged through relationship, loss, and the creative confrontation with human finitude.

Abstract: Professor Min Chao of Zhejiang University, in his paper ‘Marx's Study of the French Revolution of 1848 and the Concrete Turn of the Materialist Conception of History’ published in the January 2025 issue of Marxism Studies, reinterprets Marx's texts on the French Revolution before and after 1848, centring on the core proposition of ‘the concrete turn of the materialist conception of history’ and its ‘triple dimensions’ (Min Chao, 2025). This article conducts a systematic review and critical assessment of the aforementioned paper within the framework of the four axiomatic laws of formal logic (the law of identity, the law of non-contradiction, the law of the excluded middle, and the law of sufficient reason), alongside the fundamental facts of Marxism's development and world historical realities. The article identifies three principal issues: Firstly, the core proposition of the ‘concrete turn of the materialist conception of history’ exhibits evident circular reasoning within its argumentative structure, lacking sufficient justification. Secondly, key concepts such as ‘historical concreteness’ versus ‘living history’ and ‘social formation’ versus ‘state formation’ are defined inconsistently throughout, constituting self-negation in terms of the law of identity and the law of non-contradiction. Thirdly, the absolute elevation of the study of the 1848 French Revolution as a watershed moment for the ‘concretisation of the materialist conception of history’ contradicts the temporal logic and textual context of works such as The German Ideology, The Communist Manifesto, and the Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy (Marx & Engels, 1845/1968; Marx & Engels, 1848/1969; Marx, 1857/1976); Fourthly, while methodologically professing opposition to abstract dogmatism, the paper in practice repackages established historical facts through abstract discourses such as the ‘triple dimension,’ presenting a self-irony of ‘naming the concrete with the abstract.’ Taken together, the paper exhibits fatal flaws in logical rigour, historical accuracy, and Marxist theoretical coherence that cannot be overlooked. Its narrative of a ‘concretisation turn’ is untenable.

Abstract: Large language models perform well on tasks that depend on surface patterns and linguistic continuation; however, they show consistent and well-documented failures when asked to carry out conceptual reasoning. The limitation is structural rather than incidental. Conceptual reasoning requires an observer-state, understood here as a computational vantage point rather than any claim about consciousness, a persistent position that can evaluate its own outputs, compress contradictions, maintain a stance, and assign meaning across contexts. Current large language models lack such a vantage point because their architecture is built around token prediction rather than conceptual anchoring. To examine this constraint, the paper develops a theoretical analysis together with a set of conceptually motivated predictions involving boundary crossing, stance maintenance, contradiction handling, and frame-shift reasoning. These predicted failure patterns align with limitations documented in prior work and are organized within the Observer Ceiling Model, a three-layer constraint system. The architectural layer reflects the absence of mechanisms that could support a persistent observer-state. The substrate layer reflects the dependence on regularities learned during training, which restricts a model’s ability to select contexts or initiate conceptual shifts. The policy layer reflects alignment and safety constraints that interrupt reasoning whenever perspective-taking or stance formation is attempted. Together, these layers form a structural ceiling on conceptual reasoning. The model clarifies why scaling and additional training do not resolve these limitations and why current large language models remain unsuitable for tasks that require conceptual integration, observer-anchored judgment, or meaning assigned across frames.