The Tree of Nature -- Contents -- Acknowledgement -- Table of Contents -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. The Universe Consists of Information -- EPR and Non-Locality -- The Scientific Status of Information -- The Structure of Information Processing Events -- Factual Information -- Law-Like Information -- The Unity of Nature -- Four Categories of Events -- Chapter 2. Elementary Communicative Events. The Interaction of Two Electrons -- Causality and Explanation -- The Reality Status of the Laws of Nature -- At the Edge of Contradiction: Law and Freedom of Action -- Einstein, Heisenberg and Gödel -- The Emergence of Laws and Law-Like Information -- Emergence in Dynamic Systems -- Classification of Emerging Rules and Principles -- Chapter 3. Life Generates Meaning -- The Complexity of Living Organisms -- The Mechanisms of Evolution -- Biological Information -- What is Life? -- Cells, Multicellular Organisms and Social Entities -- Communication with the Environment -- Artificial Life -- The Logic of Life -- Chapter 4. Why Consciousness? -- Consciousness as a Subjective Process -- The ‚Miracle' of Consciousness -- The Visual System -- The Autobiographical Influence -- Consciousness in the Light of the General Information Cycle -- Why Consciousness? -- Mental Causation -- The ‚Internal Observer' -- The Conceptual Level -- The Category of Conscious Events -- Chapter 5. The Emergence of Objective Rationality -- The Evolution of Culture -- Intuition and Creativity -- Human Language -- The Socio-Cultural Meta-System -- Individual and Society -- Models of Co-Evolution of Socio-Cultural Systems -- Artificial Culture -- Socio-Cultural Rule Systems -- The Human Self -- Free Will -- Four Types of Emergence -- Chapter 6. A New View of the Universe. The Principal Parameters of Nature -- The Ontological Tree of Nature -- The Triadic Superstructure of the Tree of Nature.

The Three Types of Matter -- Spacetime, Law-Like Information and the Unity of Nature -- The Story of the Universe -- Where Is the Universe Heading? -- Veiled Reality -- Testable Predictions -- Notes -- Key Concepts and Definitions -- Commentary -- Index.