Heroes are often admired for their ability to act without having "one thought too many," as Bernard Williams put it. Likewise, the unhesitating decisions of masterful athletes and artists are part of their fascination. Examples like these make clear that spontaneity can represent an ideal. However, recent literature in empirical psychology has shown how vulnerable our spontaneous inclinations can be to bias, shortsightedness, and irrationality. How can we make sense of these different roles that spontaneity plays in our lives? The central contention of this book is that understanding these two faces of spontaneity-its virtues and its vices-requires understanding the "implicit mind." In turn, understanding the implicit mind requires considering three sets of questions. The first set focuses on the architecture of the implicit mind itself. What kinds of mental states make up the implicit mind? Are both "virtue" and "vice" cases of spontaneity products of one and the same mental system? What kind of cognitive structure do these states have, if so? The second set of questions focuses on the relationship between the implicit mind and the self. How should we relate to our spontaneous inclinations and dispositions? Are they "ours," in the sense that they reflect on our character or identity? Are we responsible for them? The third set focuses on the ethics of spontaneity. What can research on self-regulation teach us about how to improve the ethics of our implicit minds? How can we enjoy the virtues of spontaneity without succumbing to its vices? Bringing together several streams of philosophical and psychological research, The Implicit Mind is the first book to offer a philosophical account of implicit attitudes.

The Implicit Mind: Cognitive Architecture, the Self, and Ethics

Politics & Social Sciences

Brownstein, Michael

Philosophy

Oxford University Press

Frank O'Hara Award winner, first collection

Highway to the sky

Literature & Fiction

Poetry

Published for the Frank O'Hara Foundation at Columbia University Press

Country cousins: A novel

G. Braziller

In this novel, Brownstein’s characters lurk in the shadows of enlightenment. The Touch looks into a new age community that is searching for empowerment and sexuality in a time of AIDS.

The Touch (Pocket Poets Series; 49)

United States

Autonomedia

Oracle Night (Sun & Moon Contemporary Literature Series)

Sun & Moon Press

Country Cousins (New American Fiction)

In our era of apocalyptic change, everything from terrorism to a stifling cultural sameness has become globalized. World on Fire is a poet's impassioned, prophetic examination of the human and environmental consequences of transnational capitalism. From the most recent developments in biotechnology to the brainwashing effects of mass media, from the addictive rush of global currency speculation to the rapid-fire annihilation of tropical forests for chopsticks and oil, World on Fire is unsparing in its exposure of the corruption of our contemporary empire, or "Pax Americana." It suggests, paradoxically, that in this much-heralded "Age of Information," the dominant paradigms are disconnection and amnesia. The death of the author's tyrannical father after years of suffering from Alzheimer's becomes a potent symbol for a culture unable to face its own crimes or reckon with its own history. Drawing on sources including Noam Chomsky, Eduardo Galeano, and Vandana Shiva, Brownstein has created a new form combining poetry, personal narrative, and social analysis. He incites readers to look past a standardized remote-control world order and reconsider non-Western, more holistic social models. An anthem, manifesto, and call to arms, World on Fire asks the reader to step outside of ego's bomb shelter and face world upheaval without fear, thereby transforming disaster into opportunity and allowing the space for the creation of a new life. This is a stunning and timely work from a writer who "combines an acute understanding of the human soul with a bold, poetic imagination" (Paul Auster on Brownstein's story collection Music from the Evening of the World).

World on Fire

Essays & Correspondence

Grove Press, Open City Books

“Bold and inspiring, unyielding in their rigorous truth, these poems work to transform habitual patterns of fear and greed into the sane and generous life we all deserve. Slipping the Leash should be required reading for everyone.” (Lynne Twist, The Soul of Money) “These tough, uncompromising poems of witness, rage, and anarchic wit unmask the dysfunction of the human realm as it presses its Anthropocene agenda on the rest of the universe.” (Anne Waldman, Jaguar Harmonics) “Wonderful, powerful poems that excite the heart and reveal truths behind the so-called patriotism that feeds into the hands of the 1%.” (John Perkins, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man) Slipping the Leash calls for transformation in the heart and soul no less than on our warped political terrain, asking us to free ourselves from the fictions pressed on us since childhood about who we are. Poems such as “After Patriarchy Collapses and Capitalism Crumbles,” “Lucky Shadows” and “Let’s Burn the Flags of All Nations” face head-on the question of human survival.

Let's Burn the Flags of All Nations

Literary

Dr. Cicero Books

Poet and novelist Michael Brownstein’s Let’s Burn the Flags of All Nations includes provocative poems such as “After Patriarchy Collapses and Capitalism Crumbles,” “The Jewish Poem,” “Planetary Patriots,” and the title poem -- works transcending the political into a vision of what is possible on a global scale.
The poems in Let’s Burn the Flags of All Nations urge us to abandon today’s ruthlessly competitive mindset that is running our future into the ground. They expose nationalism for what it is -- a myth separating us from our common humanity. We have forgotten who profits from this separation: the corporate, political, and military leaders of phantom entities created in our name. 
Let’s Burn the Flags of All Nations is a handbook for change, calling on us to free ourselves from the fictions fed to us since childhood about who we are. It asks if we have what it takes to work out a new life:
It’s time to risk everything Open the gates, tear down the fences Roam wherever we like along Rivers and mountains without end Because we ourselves Are those rivers and mountains... 
“Bold and inspiring, unyielding in their rigorous truth, these poems work to transform habitual patterns of fear and greed into the sane and generous life we all deserve. Let’s Burn the Flags of All Nations should be required reading for everyone.” (Lynne Twist, author of The Soul of Money)
“These tough, uncompromising poems of witness, rage, and anarchic wit unmasks the dysfunction of the human realm as it presses its Anthropocene agenda on the rest of the universe. They call for the end of patriarchy.” (Anne Waldman, author of Jaguar Harmonics)
“Wonderful, powerful poems that excite the heart and reveal truths behind the so-called patriotism that feeds into the hands of the 1%.” (John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man)
* * *
Michael Brownstein is the author of three novels – Self-Reliance, The Touch, and Country Cousins – as well as ten poetry titles including World on Fire, a book-length poem about corporate globalization and consciousness change. He lives in the Catskill mountains.

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