SHSE evaluation committee and implementation in university teaching

Note: May the "UFO effect" (extra-system knowledge, singularity, surprise, curiosity, technicality, iconoclast, heterodoxy, etc.) of this project not be an obstacle for you; that is to say it doesn't dissuade you. For this project offers concrete solutions to the crises the world is currently facing. It has potential unofficially recognized by numerous University Presses and other Publishers. Below, you will find a reaction from CUP (Cambridge University Press); if needed, I will send you others.

PDF Version (committee creation project)

The Identity of SHSE

Committee creation project

1. Statement of intent

The formation of this committee stems from a question: are the Social Sciences & Humanities (SSH) adapted and/or equipped to face the challenges of the current world? This arises from the observation of the difficulties, or even the powerlessness, of the SSH in providing answers to the multiple crises currently facing living beings.

This way of posing the problem is actually a simple hypothesis opposing the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) and current crises. Specifically, this hypothesis positions the SSH as tools for potential solutions to these crises. It's assumed here that the crises are exogenous to the SSH. In other words, there is no correlation between the emergence of these crises and the SSH. Here, crises and the SSH are based on distinct and, by definition, antagonistic foundations: the former is a source of problems and the latter, potentially, is a source of solutions. Following this logic, the SSH would not be responsible in any way for, for example, global warming, inequalities in the world, identity withdrawal, etc. Therefore, because the SSH should in principle provide solutions to crises, this hypothesis is generally the one accepted in academic circles; it implicitly prevents questioning the foundations of the social sciences whenever crises occur.

In a second hypothesis, a causal link is assumed between social sciences and humanities (SSH) and crises. In other words, there would be a cause-and-effect relationship between the quality of the SSH and crises. The fact that, in modern societies, the conception of political dynamics is based on various theories of the SSH lends credence to this hypothesis. Therefore, we can deduce that the state of the world is also a reflection of the quality of the SSH. This hypothesis highlights the responsibility of the latter. Therefore, for example, global warming would also be a consequence of the theories developed in SSH; In this case, global warming would be due to an erroneous conception of reason in Philosophy and, in Economics, to the validation of the continuous and advanced release of the potential of human desire.

Similarly, realpolitik, an unofficial political practice flouting morality and international law, would only be the consequence of a flawed conception of reason. Let us clarify here that realpolitik is not a direct result of SSH, but the opportunistic exploitation of the inherent flaws of SSH. Specifically, there are shortcomings (lacunas) in the foundations on which the construction of knowledge in the social sciences is built.

These shortcomings allow realpolitik, an illegal and immoral practice, to coexist over time with legal and moral practices; these shortcomings are at the root of climate change; they open the doors to identity withdrawal; They promote the increase of inequalities, etc. In other words, the knowledge paradigm governing the SSH for centuries is failing. By knowledge paradigm, we mean the set of coherent principles prescribing a direction to the construction of knowledge.

2. Purpose: Anchoring Biology as the basis of Social & Human Sciences (for reformingSocial Sciences)

The current knowledge paradigm in the social sciences and humanities presents shortcomings. These shortcomings are at the root of the impasse the world is currently facing. All the more so, because it has reached the limits of the potential of what it can offer as "solutions", it's imperative to propose an alternative to it; We need to open up a new universe of knowledge construction for the SSH. A series of research projects, whose identity allows us to classify them as Social & Human Sciences Engineering (SHSE), presents all the characteristics of an alternative to the current knowledge paradigm. This research establishes Biology as a foundation for building knowledge in the social sciences. The aim of this committee will therefore be to evaluate and implement this research, by discipline and by branch, in university teaching.

3. From the foundation of the reforms to the positioning of the shse

Addressing the issue of reforms in the SSH necessarily involves assessing the identity of the foundation upon which current knowledge is built. Specifically, it means understanding the crucible, legitimized by the humanities and social sciences, from which knowledge is constructed; what is accepted within this crucible and what is not (anything incompatible with this crucible is rejected). In other words, it's understanding the set of principles, legitimized and accepted by the SSH, prescribing a direction to the construction of knowledge. To do this, the best point of reference is the Philosophy of the Enlightenment. To identify and understand the Enlightenment paradigm of knowledge, it's necessary to isolate (highlight) how the philosophers of this movement situate existence in space and time; it's necessary to emphasize the field they define and delimit for science: the observable, the tangible. In short, it's necessary to highlight the ontological criteria they establish. Specifically, the Enlightenment reduces existence to its material dimension. As a crucible, any knowledge external to this dimension is, implicitly or explicitly, excluded (for example, Cartesian dualism). From this perspective, this philosophy reduces every living being to its bodily dimension, that is to say to its body (Diderot, 1875); In this respect, the soul is "the property of the body". The doctrine associated with this reductionism is called materialism.

Thus, from naturalism to economics, including the Philosophy of Cognitive Science, the construction of knowledge legitimized by the SSH for centuries is based on materialism. To be more precise, the dominant doctrine in SSH since the Enlightenment is that of materialism. Although, for each discipline, materialism refers to specific fields of reference, these fields all have the tangible in common. And with regard to the materialism associated with monism (a branch of the Philosophy of Cognitive Science) and that associated with economics, both are driven by a dynamic of living: the biological determinism. In short, as we demonstrate, it's this tangible that forms the basis of the Enlightenment as a crucible, which stabilizes it and guarantees its logic.

Therefore, we hypothesize that the shortcomings, and thus the powerlessness, of the social sciences and humanities (SSH) stem from materialism as the crucible of knowledge construction. This is a hypothesis we test and confirm throughout the SHSE. This test is conducted methodically on the basis of the identity and dynamics of biological determinism. The materialism associated with the dynamics of living things is not intellectually justified. To put it simply, this doctrine is false. Consequently, it can only lead the social sciences, and the world, into a dead end; and, moreover, because it's reductionist, it automatically and structurally restricts the field of knowledge potential. This logic suggests that the SSH, by virtue of their alignment with materialism, are more of a problem than a source of solutions for humanity.

Therefore, changing the paradigm of knowledge means moving away from the materialist doctrine. For reasons that we justify in the SHSE, building an objective knowledge paradigm, and therefore an alternative to materialism, requires anchoring Biology as the basis for building knowledge. This anchoring represents the identity of SHSE.

4. SHSE crucible: from the anchoring of biology to microanthropology

Every human act derives its roots from biological determinism (Damasio, 2019). Biology acts as source of all human dynamics, including human cultures or civilizations, in space and time. Consequently, the link between biology and human cultures is the most legitimate channel from which all knowledge in social and human sciences should be built. Because this link is objective, these knowledges would make it possible to build better knowledges on human beings and on human societies; they would make it possible to highlight immutable and irrefutable laws and principles; they would make social sciences pure science like Physics, etc. This link opens a field of knowledge with almost unlimited potential. Overall, the exploration of this field opens a new universe to the construction of knowledge in the social sciences and provides new solutions to current crises (global warming, etc.). Far from materialism, this analytical approach, setting biology as a base of the construction of knowledges in the social sciences, represents Microanthropology. Microanthropology refers to the analytical knowledge of the human being based on identity and the dynamics of biological determinism. This knowledge makes it possible to decrypt all human cultures and establishes itself as a hub for criticism and the development of theories in the SSH.

5. Theses and their supervisors/evaluators

The SHSE crucible offers an almost infinite potential for knowledge across all disciplines of the SSH. These knowledges are fundamentally interdisciplinary. Those that need to be assessed concern the Philosophy of Cognitive Science, General Philosophy, Sociology, Anthropology, Political Science, Economics, and Naturalism. Below are the main theses to be evaluated, their specific characteristics and the expected supervisors (I will publish their names once they have given their consent.).

(1) Controlling the Biological Determinism

Biological determinism reflects the activity of a biological "software", assimilated to the autonomous nervous system, governing all the behaviors of living beings. It indicates, in relation to that of the conscious, the preeminence of the dynamic of the unconscious in the process of their survival. Controlling it is fundamental to guarantee harmonious, balanced and sustainable societies.

In this thesis, we establish the complete identity and dynamics of biological determinism. In this vein, we methodically demonstrate how the phenomena of free will, reason, and responsibility emerge. In doing so, we methodically draw up a technical portrait of the materialist doctrine; we show how this doctrine is flawed and how it restricts the scope of knowledge in the social sciences; this portrait, in perspective, explains why this doctrine can only lead the social sciences and humanity into a dead end.

648 pages, 857g, 15.24 x 3.71 x 22.86 cm

Disciplines: Philosophy of Cognitive Sciences

Supervisors/evaluators:

• (…), is an emeritus professor at the Catholic University of Louvain-La-Neuve in Belgium; He is one of the best Belgian specialists in the Philosophy of Cognitive Sciences, open to the existence of free will.

• (…), is a Senior Lecturer and Professor of Philosophy of Cognitive Sciences at the University of Sheffield (UK).

• (…), is a Senior Lecturer and Professor of Philosophy of Mind at King's College London (UK).

• (…), is Professor of Philosophy and Neuroscience at New York University (US).

• (…), is Professor of Philosophy of mind at the Trinity College Dublin (IE)

(2) The Law of Violence

Various corpocentric (close to egocentric) characteristics developed by the dynamic of the unconscious are essential to it in order to carry out its mission: to form, maintain and transform the body of every living being. It's from the deployment of these that the law of violence, inherent to biological determinism, imposes itself. This law is essential to understand how human societies are structured in space and time.

To understand the logic developed in this thesis, it is essential to understand the identity and dynamics of biological determinism.

216 pages, 299g, 15.24 x 1.24 x 22.86 cm

Disciplines: Sociology, Anthropology

Supervisors/evaluators:

• (…), is an associate professor in the humanities and social sciences at Deakin University (Au); he is a social theorist and specialist in science and technology studies.

• (…), He is an emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Warwick (UK). He is known for his interdisciplinary research, including on biosocial and biopolitical issues.

• (…), is Assistant Professor in Anthropology at eh University of Toronto (CA).

(3) Climate and Wealth of Nations

Based on the thesis on the logic of intelligence, this thesis will show how biological determinism adapts to each climate condition and imposes specific behaviors in each climatic zone. It's these various adaptations that define the cultural bases of peoples; They determine their levels of accumulation of knowledge, experiences and automatisms of ease to exploit the potential of psychic faculties (intelligence, awakening, etc.), the KEA. It's these levels of KEA accumulation that determine the propensity levels of peoples to generate wealth in each climatic zone; These disparate accumulations levels reflect today's economic inequalities. This thesis, based on biology, epigenetic and naturalism, is a technical response to Professors Acemoglu and Robinson, 2024 Nobel Prize winners in economics.

Methodology:

It's unusual, but to explain an economic phenomenon, the arguments of this thesis is mainly based on naturalism, biology, philosophy of cognitive sciences and epigenetics. Biology essentially focuses on identity and the dynamic of biological determinism which governs all human behaviors (Damasio, 2021).

To do this, we must show that climate influences and shapes behaviors and, therefore, human cultures. The idea is, first, to consider peoples and their dynamics by climatic zones in autarky; then, I study, zone by zone, how climate influences biological determinism dynamics which, in turn, shapes human behaviors and human cultures (fields of naturalism and philosophy of cognitive sciences). In each climatic zone, this influence conditions the accumulation levels of Knowledge, Experience and Automatisms of ease in exploiting the potential of psychic faculties. Specifically, in the longer term, in autarky, human behaviors follow a trend thanks to accumulations of psychic automatisms over generations (field of epigenetics). Indeed, scientists present epigenetics as the science that establishes the link between biology and the social (Jonathan Weitzman). And thanks to it, we can show how a tiny part of the acquired automatisms of a specific behavior is transmitted to each generation by accumulating. Therefore, we should expect that, from one climatic zone to another, the levels of these various types of accumulation, including that of automatisms, will be disparate. It's these disparities that are at the origin of structural economic inequalities between nations (field of economy), since the end of climatic autarky of peoples to the present days.

To understand the logic developed in this thesis, it is essential to understand the identity and dynamics of biological determinism.

344 pages, 463g, 15.24 x 1.98 x 22.86 cm

Disciplines: Economics, Naturalism, Epigenetics

Supervisors/evaluators:

• (…), is Professor of Epigenetics and Head of the Oakey Epigenetics Group at King's College London. The involvement of epigenetics in this project is the most delicate, but also the most decisive phase.

• (…), is a Professor of economics at Columbia University (NY, US) and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development in the Earth Institute.

• (…), Nobel Prize (Economics, 2019), is Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics; he specializes in Development Economics, Macroeconomics, and Political Economy.

(4) The Biological Identity of Economic Society

We address the question of what constitutes economic society using a methodology grounded in biological determinism. Like any type of society, it emerges from a specific psychic configuration in the individuals composing it. This particular configuration is achieved gradually with a high density and frequency of specific information penetrating consciousness. This information simultaneously releases the potentials of human desire (distinct from need) and biological determinism. The release of these potentials is the sine qua non condition for the formation of economic society. It's this concomitance that gives meaning to the lives of individuals within economic society, the homo economicus. This concomitance unleashes consumerism, that is to say the strong structural pressure exerted by the dynamic of the unconscious on that of the conscious in order to satisfy the plethora of nuances of desire released continuously in the individual, and automatically causes destructive effects on the main balances (human, social, societal, environmental, etc.). For example, in relation to consumerism, from a human point of view, it prevents the emergence of free will, reason and responsibility.

The liberation of the potential of human desire sustains perpetual growth, while the liberation of the potential of biological determinism intertwines totalitarianism with the identity of economic society. This totalitarianism is based on a double servitude, one of which, the main one, is endogenous to the individual and the other, the most classic, is exogenous. It's the immense space devoted to satisfying the plethora of nuances of desire that gives the impression of freedom, reduced to economic freedom. Consumerism has the particularity of masking the apparent effects of totalitarianism, stabilizing the system, and protecting it against democracy.

To understand the logic developed in this thesis, it is essential to understand the identity and dynamics of biological determinism.

380 pages, 508g, 15.24 x 2.18 x 22.86 cm 

Disciplines: Economics, Political Science,

Supervisors/evaluators:

• (…), is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley (US).

• (…), is Associate Professor in Innovation, Development and Value at the University College London (UK).

• (…), is an assistant Professor in Economic Sociology at the University of Cambridge (UK).

• (…), Nobel Prize (Economics, 2019), is Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at MIT (US); he specializes in Development Economics, Macroeconomics, and Political Economy.

• (…), is a Professor at the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium), and at Sciences Po (Paris); he is also the Director of the Human Rights Research Unit (CRIDHO) of the Center for Philosophy of Law.

(5) The Logic of Intelligence, IQ & Skin Color

According to biological determinism, the nature, function and amplitude of the conscious intelligence of living species fundamentally depend on the intelligence of the unconscious. Precisely, they depend on the quality and density of potential information injected into consciousness by the dynamic of the unconscious. This logic is essential to understand, among other things, the origins of racism and economic inequalities between nations.

IQ is intrinsically linked to the level of accumulation of automatisms of ease in exploiting the potential of intelligence. This level of accumulation is an epigenetic phenomenon determined by climate. It exposes the origins of racism and economic inequalities between Black peoples and others.

To understand the logic developed in this thesis, it is essential to understand the identity and dynamics of biological determinism.

400 pages, 488g, 15.24 x 2.05 x 22.86 cm

Disciplines: Naturalism, Epigenetics, Political Sciences, Philosophy

Supervisors/evaluators:

• (…), is Professor of Epigenetics and Head of the Oakey Epigenetics Group at King's College London (UK). The involvement of epigenetics in this thesis is the most delicate, but also the most decisive phase.

• (…), Associate researcher and Lecturer in Philosophy at Deakin University (AU). She is specialist in phenomenology, critical philosophy of race, and feminist philosophy.

• (…), is a Senior Lecturer and Professor of Philosophy of Mind at King's College London (UK).

• (…), is Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Anti-Racism Hallmark Research Initiative at the University of Melbourne (AU).

(6) Creationism or Evolutionism: From Engineering into Existent to the Arbitration of Biological Determinism

Can the theory of evolution resist the reflections of the highlighting of the engineering consubstantial to the existent? This question refers to the hypothetical links between nothingness and the existent in its complexity. Furthermore, can this theory resist the reflections associated with the dynamics of biological determinism? These establish biological determinism as the main authority capable of possibly driving Darwinian evolutionism. Specifically, if, as we demonstrate from biological determinism, the doctrine of materialism is false, then what credibility remains to this theory?

224 pages, 308g, 15.24 x 1.3 x 22.86 cm

Disciplines: Naturalism, Epigenetic, Anthropology, Sociology

Supervisors/evaluators:

• (…), is Professor of Epigenetics and Head of the Oakey Epigenetics Group at King's College London (UK). The involvement of epigenetics in this thesis is the most delicate, but also the most decisive phase.

• (…), is Associate Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography (Oxford, UK).

• (…), is associate professor in Anthropology at the University of Toronto (CA). Her areas of study include, among others, Evolutionary Anthropology. Her area of ​​expertise is skeletal biology and bioarchaeology.

(7) The Identity of Universalism

‎This thesis analyzes two opposing conceptual visions called universalism. The first, of centripetal movement, brings the identities of the universe into the nation and makes it a miniature universe. We then speak of the universalization of the nation. It necessarily deploys both on universal morality, opening to universal freedom, and on a social contract. The second, of centrifugal movement, exports, or even imposes, the identity of the nation on the rest of the world. Based on a sectoral morality, it produces only a sectoral freedom that is insufficient to guarantee universalism.

178 pages, 249g,15.24 x 1.04 x 22.86 cm

Disciplines : Philosophie générale, Sciences politiques

Supervisors/evaluators:

• (…), is an Emeritus Professor of French and of Philosophy at Columbia University (US).

• (…), is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley (US).

• (…), is a Professor at the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium), and at Sciences Po (Paris); he is also the Director of the Human Rights Research Unit (CRIDHO) of the Center for Philosophy of Law.

6. Cordinators:

(…), is Associate Professor in Innovation, Development and Value at the University College London.

7. The host university

(…)

Many thanks to all!

Reactions with CUP (Cambridge University Press)

De : Guy Tack <tackg@live.be>
Envoyé : lundi 4 août 2025 13:31
À : Hilary Gaskin <hilary.gaskin@cambridge.org>
Objet : Book Proposal : Claim (Governance of the Unconscious and Free Will: The Libet's Dualism and Damasio's Error) Dear Mrs. Hilary Gaskin,
Many Thanks for your reaction to my book proposal!
In relation with it, I would like to share with you few details that you may have missed. Please read them carefully.

• This book is a direct and technical response to Benjamin Libet. As you know, he is THE world reference on the notion of Free Will. Precisely, this book directly and technically refutes his interpretation and conclusion of his experiment ( called"primary evoked potential" - Mind Time: The Temporal Factor in Consciousness, Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard University Press, 2005).
• In this wake, this book methodically deconstructs the arguments of numerous bestsellers such as Determined (Sapolsky, 2024), Descartes' Error (Damasio, 1994), The Strange Order of Things (Damasio, 2017), etc.
• Furthermore, the research proposed in this book is placed in an interdisciplinary perspective. For example, based on biological determinism and, further, on naturalism, cognitive science, and epigenetics, it helps explain the deep origins of economic inequalities between nations. Specifically, it shows how climate (taken as a Initial Condition) has imposed disparate propensities for structural wealth production between climatic zones. Thus, this research, the manuscript of which is almost ready, technically contradicts the arguments of Acemoglu and Robinson, 2024 Nobel Prize winners in economics.
• In addition, this research opens the doors to another universe for constructing knowledge in Social & Human Sciences.

Based on these arguments, we can expect this book to have a significant, even an immeasurable, market potential. So, I would be very grateful if you could restart the review process for my book proposal.
Overall, I am convinced that as one of the top three universities in the world, Cambridge can at least considers the value of knowledge as much as that of economic profit.
Please find attached the updated version of my book proposal.
Thanks in advance for your reaction.
RegardsGuy TackDe : Hilary Gaskin <hilary.gaskin@cambridge.org>
Envoyé : mardi 15 juillet 2025 18:15
À : tackg@live.be <tackg@live.be>
Objet : FW: Book Proposal (Governance of the Unconscious and Free Will: The Libet's Dualism and Damasio's Error)

Dear Dr Tack

Thank you for contacting me about your book project. I'm afraid however that I cannot offer to pursue this project for the Cambridge philosophy list. Market conditions are obliging us to be increasingly selective regarding the monographs which we take on, and unfortunately I'm just not confident that we could be successful with this one. I'm sorry to disappoint you and I hope you'll find that another publisher takes a different view.

Best wishes

Dr Hilary Gaskin

Publisher, philosophy

Cambridge University Press

From: Guy Tack <tackg@live.be>
Sent: 15 July 2025 10:28
To: Hilary Gaskin <hilary.gaskin@cambridge.org>
Subject: Book Proposal (Governance of the Unconscious and Free Will: The Libet's Dualism and Damasio's Error)

External: This email originated from a source outside Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Do not click on links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and you know the content is safe.

Dear Mrs. Hilary Gaskin

Please find attached my book proposal. It explains in detail the identity and the dynamic of the biological determinism; it shows how the free will emerges by controlling this determinism.

Many thanks in advance for your reaction.

Regards

Guy Tack