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This book bridges metaphysics and cognitive science by exploring how the brain does not passively receive the world but actively predicts and hallucinates it, turning our experience into a neural construct. Cognitive Metaphysics identifies the basic categories through which the brain structures our perceived reality and investigates the metaphysical implications that follow. Drawing on predictive processing, it reframes material reality as a model built by the brain and proposes a naturalist, Kantian idealist framework for understanding the fundamental structures of both ordinary and scientific objects, as well as how they relate to one another. The book shows how questions about composition, persistence, vagueness, and their connection to quantum reality must be rethought in terms of the predictive mind, offering a fresh approach to traditional metaphysical problems.
About the author
Arthur Schwaninger
is a researcher at the University of Zurich. He studied Computational Science at ETH Zurich and published research in the fields of physical chemistry and biology. Following further studies in Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and work in Computational Neuroscience within the Human Brain Project, he pursued a doctorate in theoretical philosophy. He received his PhD in 2022 with
summa cum laude
. Since then, he has worked across various areas of artificial intelligence and has advised companies on their AI strategies. Alongside his research, he has also been active in teaching philosophy.
Summary
This book bridges metaphysics and cognitive science by exploring how the brain does not passively receive the world but actively predicts and hallucinates it, turning our experience into a neural construct.
Cognitive Metaphysics
identifies the basic categories through which the brain structures our perceived reality and investigates the metaphysical implications that follow. Drawing on predictive processing, it reframes material reality as a model built by the brain and proposes a naturalist, Kantian–idealist framework for understanding the fundamental structures of both ordinary and scientific objects, as well as how they relate to one another. The book shows how questions about composition, persistence, vagueness, and their connection to quantum reality must be rethought in terms of the predictive mind, offering a fresh approach to traditional metaphysical problems.
