FABRICA MUNDI

How the brain transforms perception, experience, and prior knowledge into a world we can inhabit.

FABRICA MUNDI, published in 2024, is my book on cognitive constructivism. It explores how we perceive, think, and learn — and why the world we experience is neither a passive copy of reality nor a free invention of the mind. The brain continuously interprets sensory signals and combines them with expectations, memories, and learned concepts. From this interaction, it constructs mental models that allow us to orient ourselves, understand situations, and act effectively.

These constructions are not arbitrary. They are constrained and corrected by an independent reality. When our expectations fail to match the world, we must revise our perception, knowledge, or behaviour. The book brings together philosophy, neuroscience, developmental psychology, evolution, and social cognition. Its central insight is: We do not create reality itself. We construct our access to it.

Reading sample

Discover the World of Thought

An accessible introduction to perception, learning, consciousness, and social reality.

FABRICA MUNDI is written for readers who want to understand how the brain develops a coherent model of the world from sensory input, experience, and expectation.

The book explores:

the construction of perception and mental models,
the development of thought from childhood to adulthood,
neural plasticity, learning, and memory,
the evolutionary foundations of cognition,
the influence of language, culture, and society,
the limits of knowledge and self-perception.

Complex scientific and philosophical questions are explained in accessible language and connected with examples from everyday life. The book shows that perception is constructed without concluding that everything is merely subjective or relative. It is available in German and English as a hardcover, paperback, and e-book.

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The digital EPUB edition for e-readers, tablets, and smartphones.

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Now Available as an Audiobook

How does knowledge arise? What is reality — and how does the brain construct our understanding of it?

FABRICA MUNDI is also available as an unabridged audiobook. It introduces the foundations of cognitive constructivism and explains how perception, learning, memory, and expectation shape our experience of the world. From Jean Piaget’s developmental psychology and neural plasticity to contemporary models of predictive perception, the audiobook connects philosophical questions with findings from psychology and neuroscience. An accessible introduction for anyone interested in knowledge, consciousness, and the relationship between mind and world.

FABRICA MUNDI

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Mindworlds — The Mental Architecture of Experience

Perception is not a direct window onto the world, but a continuously tested model of it.

Can we trust perception even though it is constructed? Yes — but not because it reproduces reality completely or without interpretation. Perception is reliable when our mental models correspond closely enough to an independent world to support successful orientation and action. The brain selects information, organizes it, fills in missing details, and interprets ambiguous signals. Attention, memory, prior knowledge, and expectation therefore influence what we perceive and how we understand it.

Constructed does not mean invented. Perception may be incomplete, distorted, or mistaken, but it is continually tested through sensory feedback and the consequences of our actions. FABRICA MUNDI examines how mental models arise, why they are necessary, and how we can recognize their limits.

The Layers of Thought

From basic perception to the self-model, cognition develops across several interconnected levels.

Our mental world does not emerge all at once. It develops from basic capacities such as distinguishing shapes, navigating space, and recognizing recurring patterns.

More complex abilities build upon these foundations:

categorizing objects and situations,
identifying relations and causes,
using language and abstract concepts,
reasoning about other minds,
reflecting on our own thinking,
constructing a continuing model of the self.

Developmental psychology is a central focus of the book. Children do not simply perceive the world as incomplete adults. Their cognitive structures change as they act, learn, and revise existing models in response to new experiences. From a constructivist perspective, the self is not an unchanging inner core. It is a continuously updated model that integrates the body, memory, social relationships, and personal expectations.

The Brain as Architect

The brain does not invent the world, but it organizes our experience of it.

The brain does not passively wait for sensory information. It continuously predicts what is happening and compares those expectations with incoming signals. Sensory input primarily confirms or corrects the models already in operation. This capacity depends on neural plasticity. Connections within the brain change through experience, repetition, attention, and learning. This allows us to acquire new abilities, form memories, and adapt our behaviour to changing conditions.

The book examines:

how neural networks process information,
how expectations influence perception,
how learning revises existing models,
how memories are reconstructed,
what neurological disorders reveal about the organization of the mind.

The architectural metaphor has a clear limit: the brain does not build the external world. It builds an internal, action-guiding representation of that world.

Thinking in a Changing World

Our mental models emerge not only from the brain, but also from evolution, culture, and social interaction.

Each person experiences the world from an individual perspective. Yet we can construct shared realities because we live under similar bodily and natural conditions, communicate with one another, and continually coordinate our different viewpoints. Language, social norms, institutions, and cultural narratives shape how we think. Such social constructions are not simply unreal. They become real in their effects when they coordinate behaviour, establish expectations, and create shared rules. Evolution has also shaped perception and decision-making. The brain did not evolve to represent the world completely and without bias. It evolved to make sufficiently effective decisions under limited time and information.

This leads to a view of the mind that is both realistic and open to change:

Perception is constructed, but not arbitrary.
Thought is shaped, but not fixed.
Shared realities are socially produced, but can have objective consequences.
Better models allow clearer understanding and more deliberate action.

FABRICA MUNDI invites readers to see thought not as a finished image of the world, but as a dynamic process that develops through experience, communication, and correction.