The Basic Questions

Abstract

Abstract This chapter begins by raising the basic questions that we hope to answer in the rest of the book. It asks: What is freedom? What is truth? What is real? How do we know? What is information? What is causation? What is the mind–body problem? What is consciousness? After posing these questions, the chapter then goes on to consider possible answers within the general theoretical framework of cybernetic and criterial causation. “Freedom from constraints” is contrasted with the “freedom within constraints” afforded by mastery and a commitment to a practice.