1. Naturalising the world and the mind
1.1 From clockwork to open world: non-linear dynamics
1.2 The problem of the 3 bodies, the birth of topological analysis and Chaos Theory
1.3 Lorenz and weather prediction
1.4 The world is new at every moment
1.5 Order out of disorder
1.6 Closed and open systems
1.7 Open dissipative systems
1.8 The physics of excitable and active media
1.9 Life on Earth
1.10 The emergence of multicellular organisms
2.1 How new levels of organisation emerge
2.2 Relation between levels of organisation in a stratified world
3. All natural phenomena are 4-dimensional structures
3.1 History of representation of 4D structures in space and time
3.2 Spatio-temporal maps
4.1 Nerve cells
4.2 How are nerve cells activated?
4.3 Neural circuits
4.4 The physics of neural circuits
4.5 The fundamental architecture of the vertebrate nervous system
4.6 The idea of a neuromechanical loop
4.7 Locomotion and neuromechanical loops
4.8 Neural circuits for locomotion in the lamprey
4.9 Neuromechanical loops and circular causality
4.10 Hierarchical organisation of the lamprey’s nervous system
5. The central nervous system of vertebrates consists of superimposed neural loops
5.1 Double hierarchy of the central nervous system
5.2 Internal loops in defence reactions
5.3 Internal loops involved in bodily balance and visual stability
5.4 Internal loops involved in primordial attention
5.5 Internal loops connecting subcortical structures to the cerebral cortex
6. The cerebral cortex is also organised in a hierarchical way with superimposed loops
6.1 Evolution and development of the cortex
6.2 Evidence of a hierarchical organisation of the cortex
6.3 In search of a detailed cartography of the cortex
7. History of the views of hierarchical organisation of the brain
8. The human brain as a multi-story neural building organised as superimposed internal neural loops
9. Constructing spatio-temporal patterns of neural activity in the vertebrate nervous system
9.1 Constructing spatio-temporal maps of the neural activity associated with different brain states
9.2 Neural activity in isolated preparations of the central nervous system
9.3 Neural activity in the intact central nervous system
9.4 Spatio-temporal patterns of neural activity associated with mental states
10. The gap between matter and mind: the mind-body problem
10.1 Origin of dualism of mind and matter
10.2 Beyond Cartesian dualism
11. Relation between levels of the hierarchical brain organisation and mental states
11.1 Current neuroscience theories on the nature of consciousness
11.2 Conscious states
11.3 Which parts of the nervous system are necessary and sufficient for states of consciousness to emerge?
11.4 Spatio-temporal patterns in conscious humans and other animals
11.5 Factors that affect the contents of phenomenal consciousness
11.6 Modulation of consciousness by ascending pathways
12. Emergence and construction of a self
12.1 The external world and the self
12.2 The awareness of one's body and actions
12.3 Awareness of an inner self via interactions with others
13. Living in a 4D world / the present
13.1 What initiates actions?
13.2 The sense of reality
13.3 Extending the power of direct experiences / Reality beyond the present
13.4 Coupling between living organisms including humans
14.1 The tests of reality of collective cosmologies
14.2 Human creative pleasures
14.3 Visual art
14.4 Music as human creative pleasure
14.5 What social structure best allow all the best of our creative freedoms, educating humans from the very beginning to become freer individuals?