Explaining Consciousness The Hard Problem

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Explaining Consciousness

Author : Jonathan Shear
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262692212
Total Pages : 436 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (922 download)

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Book Synopsis Explaining Consciousness by : Jonathan Shear

Download or read book Explaining Consciousness written by Jonathan Shear and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1999-01-22 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why doesn't all this cognitive processing go on "in the dark," without any consciousness at all? In this book philosophers, physicists, psychologists, neurophysiologists, computer scientists, and others address this central topic in the growing discipline of consciousness studies. At the 1994 landmark conference "Toward a Scientific Basis for Consciousness", philosopher David Chalmers distinguished between the "easy" problems and the "hard" problem of consciousness research. According to Chalmers, the easy problems are to explain cognitive functions such as discrimination, integration, and the control of behavior; the hard problem is to explain why these functions should be associated with phenomenal experience. Why doesnt all this cognitive processing go on "in the dark", without any consciousness at all? In this book, philosophers, physicists, psychologists, neurophysiologists, computer scientists, and others address this central topic in the growing discipline of consciousness studies. Some take issue with Chalmers' distinction, arguing that the hard problem is a non-problem, or that the explanatory gap is too wide to be bridged. Others offer alternative suggestions as to how the problem might be solved, whether through cognitive science, fundamental physics, empirical phenomenology, or with theories that take consciousness as irreducible. Contributors Bernard J. Baars, Douglas J. Bilodeau, David Chalmers, Patricia S. Churchland, Thomas Clark, C. J. S. Clarke, Francis Crick, Daniel C. Dennett, Stuart Hameroff, Valerie Hardcastle, David Hodgson, Piet Hut, Christof Koch, Benjamin Libet, E. J. Lowe, Bruce MacLennan, Colin McGinn, Eugene Mills, Kieron OHara, Roger Penrose, Mark C. Price, William S. Robinson, Gregg Rosenberg, Tom Scott, William Seager, Jonathan Shear, Roger N. Shepard, Henry Stapp, Francisco J. Varela, Max Velmans, Richard Warner

Explaining Consciousness

Author : Jonathan Shear
Publisher : Bradford Books
ISBN 13 : 9780262193887
Total Pages : 422 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (938 download)

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Book Synopsis Explaining Consciousness by : Jonathan Shear

Download or read book Explaining Consciousness written by Jonathan Shear and published by Bradford Books. This book was released on 1997 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the 1994 landmark conference "Toward a Scientific Basis for Consciousness", philosopher David Chalmers distinguished between the "easy" problems and the "hard" problem of consciousness research. According to Chalmers, the easy problems are to explain cognitive functions such as discrimination, integration, and the control of behavior; the hard problem is to explain why these functions should be associated with phenomenal experience. Why doesnt all this cognitive processing go on "in the dark", without any consciousness at all? In this book, philosophers, physicists, psychologists, neurophysiologists, computer scientists, and others address this central topic in the growing discipline of consciousness studies. Some take issue with Chalmers' distinction, arguing that the hard problem is a non-problem, or that the explanatory gap is too wide to be bridged. Others offer alternative suggestions as to how the problem might be solved, whether through cognitive science, fundamental physics, empirical phenomenology, or with theories that take consciousness as irreducible. Contributors: Bernard J. Baars, Douglas J. Bilodeau, David Chalmers, Patricia S. Churchland, Thomas Clark, C. J. S. Clarke, Francis Crick, Daniel C. Dennett, Stuart Hameroff, Valerie Hardcastle, David Hodgson, Piet Hut, Christof Koch, Benjamin Libet, E. J. Lowe, Bruce MacLennan, Colin McGinn, Eugene Mills, Kieron OHara, Roger Penrose, Mark C. Price, William S. Robinson, Gregg Rosenberg, Tom Scott, William Seager, Jonathan Shear, Roger N. Shepard, Henry Stapp, Francisco J. Varela, Max Velmans, Richard Warner

Explaining Consciousness

Author : Jonathan Shear
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 422 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (131 download)

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Book Synopsis Explaining Consciousness by : Jonathan Shear

Download or read book Explaining Consciousness written by Jonathan Shear and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the 1994 landmark conference "Toward a Scientific Basis for Consciousness," philosopher David Chalmers distinguished between the "easy" problems and the "hard" problem of consciousness research. According to Chalmers, the easy problems are to explain cognitive functions such as discrimination, integration, and the control of behavior; the hard problem is to explain why these functions should be associated with phenomenal experience. Why doesn't all this cognitive processing go on "in the dark," without any consciousness at all? In this book, philosophers, physicists, psychologists, neurophysiologists, computer scientists, and others - all the major participants in the debate - address this central topic in the growing discipline of consciousness studies.

The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness

Author : Susan Schneider
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1119002206
Total Pages : 848 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (19 download)

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Book Synopsis The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness by : Susan Schneider

Download or read book The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness written by Susan Schneider and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2017-03-16 with total page 848 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Updated and revised, the highly-anticipated second edition of The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness offers a collection of readings that together represent the most thorough and comprehensive survey of the nature of consciousness available today. Features updates to scientific chapters reflecting the latest research in the field Includes 18 new theoretical, empirical, and methodological chapters covering integrated information theory, renewed interest in panpsychism, and more Covers a wide array of topics that include the origins and extent of consciousness, various consciousness experiences such as meditation and drug-induced states, and the neuroscience of consciousness Presents 54 peer-reviewed chapters written by leading experts in the study of consciousness, from across a variety of academic disciplines

A Blueprint for the Hard Problem of Consciousness

Author : Paulo J. Negro
Publisher : Bentham Science Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1681087677
Total Pages : 251 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (81 download)

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Book Synopsis A Blueprint for the Hard Problem of Consciousness by : Paulo J. Negro

Download or read book A Blueprint for the Hard Problem of Consciousness written by Paulo J. Negro and published by Bentham Science Publishers. This book was released on 2019-02-11 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Blueprint for the Hard Problem of Consciousness addresses the fundamental mechanism that allows physical events to transcend into subjective experiences, termed the Hard Problem of Consciousness. Consciousness is made available as the abstract product of self-referent realization of information by strange loops through the levels of processing of the brain. Readers are introduced to the concept of the Hard Problem of Consciousness and related concepts followed by a critical discourse of different theories of consciousness. Next, the author identifies the fundamental flaw of the Integrated Information Theory (IIT) and proposes an alternative that avoids the cryptic intelligent design and panpsychism of the IIT. This author also demonstrates how something can be created out of nothing without resorting to quantum theory, while pointing out neurobiological alternatives to the bottom-up approach of quantum theories of consciousness. The book then delves into the philosophy of qualia in different physiological knowledge networks (spatial, temporal and olfactory, cortical signals, for example) to explain an action-based model consistent with the generational principles of Predictive Coding, which maps prediction and predictive-error signals for perceptual representations supporting integrated goal-directed behaviors. Conscious experiences are considered the outcome of abstractions realized out of map overlays and provided by sustained oscillatory activity. The key feature of this blueprint is that it offers a perspective of the Hard Problem of Consciousness from the point of view of the subject; the experience of ‘being the subject’ is predicted to be the realization of inference inversely mapped out of hidden causes of global integrated actions. The author explains the consistencies of his blueprint with ideas of the Global Neuronal Workspace and the Adaptive Resonance Theory of consciousness as well as with the empirical evidence supporting the Integrated Information Theory. A Blueprint for the Hard Problem of Consciousness offers a unique perspective to readers interested in the scientific philosophy and cognitive neuroscience theory in relation to models of the theory of consciousness.

Consciousness Explained

Author : Daniel C. Dennett
Publisher : Hachette+ORM
ISBN 13 : 0316439487
Total Pages : 707 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (164 download)

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Book Synopsis Consciousness Explained by : Daniel C. Dennett

Download or read book Consciousness Explained written by Daniel C. Dennett and published by Hachette+ORM. This book was released on 2018-02-06 with total page 707 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daniel Dennett's "brilliant" exploration of human consciousness — named one of the ten best books of the year by the New York Times — is a masterpiece beloved by both scientific experts and general readers (New York Times Book Review). Consciousness Explained is a full-scale exploration of human consciousness. In this landmark book, Daniel Dennett refutes the traditional, commonsense theory of consciousness and presents a new model, based on a wealth of information from the fields of neuroscience, psychology, and artificial intelligence. Our current theories about conscious life — of people, animal, even robots — are transformed by the new perspectives found in this book. "Dennett is a witty and gifted scientific raconteur, and the book is full of fascinating information about humans, animals, and machines. The result is highly digestible and a useful tour of the field." —Wall Street Journal

The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness

Author : Mark Solms
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393542025
Total Pages : 376 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (935 download)

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Book Synopsis The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness by : Mark Solms

Download or read book The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness written by Mark Solms and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2021-02-16 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A revelatory new theory of consciousness that returns emotions to the center of mental life. For Mark Solms, one of the boldest thinkers in contemporary neuroscience, discovering how consciousness comes about has been a lifetime’s quest. Scientists consider it the "hard problem" because it seems an impossible task to understand why we feel a subjective sense of self and how it arises in the brain. Venturing into the elementary physics of life, Solms has now arrived at an astonishing answer. In The Hidden Spring, he brings forward his discovery in accessible language and graspable analogies. Solms is a frank and fearless guide on an extraordinary voyage from the dawn of neuropsychology and psychoanalysis to the cutting edge of contemporary neuroscience, adhering to the medically provable. But he goes beyond other neuroscientists by paying close attention to the subjective experiences of hundreds of neurological patients, many of whom he treated, whose uncanny conversations expose much about the brain’s obscure reaches. Most importantly, you will be able to recognize the workings of your own mind for what they really are, including every stray thought, pulse of emotion, and shift of attention. The Hidden Spring will profoundly alter your understanding of your own subjective experience.

Consciousness

Author : Jeffrey Alan Gray
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 9780198520900
Total Pages : 380 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (29 download)

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Book Synopsis Consciousness by : Jeffrey Alan Gray

Download or read book Consciousness written by Jeffrey Alan Gray and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2004 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How does conscious experience arise out of the functioning of the human brain? How is it related to the behaviour that it accompanies? How does the perceived world relate to the real world? Between them, these three questions constitute what is commonly known as the Hard Problem of consciousness. Despite vast knowledge of the relationship between brain and behaviour, and rapid advances in our knowledge of how brain activity correlates with conscious experience, the answers to all three questions remain controversial, even mysterious. This important new book analyses these core issues and reviews the evidence from both introspection and experiment. To many its conclusions will be surprising and even unsettling: · The entire perceived world is constructed by the brain. The relationship between the world we perceive and the underlying physical reality is not as close as we might think. · Much of our behaviour is accomplished with little or no participation from conscious experience. · Our conscious experience of our behaviour lags the behaviour itself by around a fifth of a second - we become aware of what we do only after we have done it. · The lag in conscious experience applies also to the decision to act - we only become aware of our decisions after they have been formed. · The self is as much a creation of the brain as is the rest of the perceived world. Written by a leading scientist, this analysis of how conscious experience relates to brain and behaviour is accessible and compelling. It will have major implications for our understanding of human nature.

Hard Problem of Consciousness

Author : Fouad Sabry
Publisher : One Billion Knowledgeable
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 215 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (661 download)

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Book Synopsis Hard Problem of Consciousness by : Fouad Sabry

Download or read book Hard Problem of Consciousness written by Fouad Sabry and published by One Billion Knowledgeable. This book was released on 2023-07-03 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What Is Hard Problem of Consciousness The difficult problem of consciousness investigates why and how humans have phenomenal experiences, also known as qualia. This is in contrast to the so-called "easy problems" of explaining the physical processes that enable humans and other animals the ability to differentiate between things, integrate information, and other similar tasks. The only thing that is required to find a solution to an issue of this nature is to specifically identify the mechanisms that are responsible for carrying out the relevant activities. David Chalmers, a prominent philosopher, contends that even if we find answers to all of the simpler questions regarding the brain and experience, the most difficult questions will still be unanswered. How You Will Benefit (I) Insights, and validations about the following topics: Chapter 1: Hard problem of consciousness Chapter 2: Consciousness Chapter 3: David Chalmers Chapter 4: The Conscious Mind Chapter 5: Qualia Chapter 6: Philosophy of mind Chapter 7: Epiphenomenalism Chapter 8: Artificial consciousness Chapter 9: Explanatory gap Chapter 10: Panpsychism (II) Answering the public top questions about hard problem of consciousness. (III) Real world examples for the usage of hard problem of consciousness in many fields. (IV) 17 appendices to explain, briefly, 266 emerging technologies in each industry to have 360-degree full understanding of hard problem of consciousness' technologies. Who This Book Is For Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of hard problem of consciousness.

Feeling & Knowing

Author : Antonio Damasio
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 1524747564
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (247 download)

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Book Synopsis Feeling & Knowing by : Antonio Damasio

Download or read book Feeling & Knowing written by Antonio Damasio and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2021-10-26 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From one of the world’s leading neuroscientists: a succinct, illuminating, wholly engaging investigation of how biology, neuroscience, psychology, and artificial intelligence have given us the tools to unlock the mysteries of human consciousness “One thrilling insight after another ... Damasio has succeeded brilliantly in narrowing the gap between body and mind.” —The New York Times Book Review In recent decades, many philosophers and cognitive scientists have declared the problem of consciousness unsolvable, but Antonio Damasio is convinced that recent findings across multiple scientific disciplines have given us a way to understand consciousness and its significance for human life. In the forty-eight brief chapters of Feeling & Knowing, and in writing that remains faithful to our intuitive sense of what feeling and experiencing are about, Damasio helps us understand why being conscious is not the same as sensing, why nervous systems are essential for the development of feelings, and why feeling opens the way to consciousness writ large. He combines the latest discoveries in various sciences with philosophy and discusses his original research, which has transformed our understanding of the brain and human behavior. Here is an indispensable guide to understanding how we experience the world within and around us and find our place in the universe.

Being You

Author : Anil Seth
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1524742880
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (247 download)

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Book Synopsis Being You by : Anil Seth

Download or read book Being You written by Anil Seth and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A Best Book of 2021—Bloomberg Businessweek; A Best Science Book of 2021—The Guardian; A Best Science Book of 2021—Financial Times; A Best Philosophy Book of 2021—Five Books; A Best Book of 2021—The Economist Anil Seth's quest to understand the biological basis of conscious experience is one of the most exciting contributions to twenty-first-century science. What does it mean to “be you”—that is, to have a specific, conscious experience of the world around you and yourself within it? There may be no more elusive or fascinating question. Historically, humanity has considered the nature of consciousness to be a primarily spiritual or philosophical inquiry, but scientific research is now mapping out compelling biological theories and explanations for consciousness and selfhood. Now, internationally renowned neuroscience professor, researcher, and author Anil Seth is offers a window into our consciousness in BEING YOU: A New Science of Consciousness. Anil Seth is both a leading expert on the neuroscience of consciousness and one of most prominent spokespeople for this relatively new field of science. His radical argument is that we do not perceive the world as it objectively is, but rather that we are prediction machines, constantly inventing our world and correcting our mistakes by the microsecond, and that we can now observe the biological mechanisms in the brain that accomplish this process of consciousness. Seth has been interviewed for documentaries aired on the BBC, Netflix, and Amazon and podcasts by Sam Harris, Russell Brand, and Chris Anderson, and his 2017 TED Talk on the topic has been viewed over 11 million times, a testament to his uncanny ability to make unimaginably complex science accessible and entertaining.

The Hard Problem

Author : Tom Stoppard
Publisher : Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
ISBN 13 : 0802190502
Total Pages : 96 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (21 download)

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Book Synopsis The Hard Problem by : Tom Stoppard

Download or read book The Hard Problem written by Tom Stoppard and published by Grove/Atlantic, Inc.. This book was released on 2015-09-22 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Above all don’t use the word good as though it meant something in evolutionary science. The Hard Problem is a tour de force, exploring fundamental questions of how we experience the world, as well as telling the moving story of a young woman whose struggle for understanding her own life and the lives of others leads her to question the deeply held beliefs of those around her. Hilary, a young psychology researcher at the Krohl Institute for Brain Science, is nursing a private sorrow and a troubling question. She and other researchers at the institute are grappling with what science calls the “hard problem”—if there is nothing but matter, what is consciousness? What Hilary discovers puts her fundamentally at odds with her colleagues, who include her first mentor and one-time lover, Spike; her boss, Leo; and the billionaire founder of the institute, Jerry. Hilary needs a miracle, and she is prepared to pray for one.

Explaining Consciousness - the "hard Problem"

Author : Jonathan Shear
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (677 download)

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Book Synopsis Explaining Consciousness - the "hard Problem" by : Jonathan Shear

Download or read book Explaining Consciousness - the "hard Problem" written by Jonathan Shear and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Mind and Cosmos

Author : Thomas Nagel
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199919755
Total Pages : 141 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (999 download)

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Book Synopsis Mind and Cosmos by : Thomas Nagel

Download or read book Mind and Cosmos written by Thomas Nagel and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-11-22 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The modern materialist approach to life has conspicuously failed to explain such central mind-related features of our world as consciousness, intentionality, meaning, and value. This failure to account for something so integral to nature as mind, argues philosopher Thomas Nagel, is a major problem, threatening to unravel the entire naturalistic world picture, extending to biology, evolutionary theory, and cosmology. Since minds are features of biological systems that have developed through evolution, the standard materialist version of evolutionary biology is fundamentally incomplete. And the cosmological history that led to the origin of life and the coming into existence of the conditions for evolution cannot be a merely materialist history, either. An adequate conception of nature would have to explain the appearance in the universe of materially irreducible conscious minds, as such. Nagel's skepticism is not based on religious belief or on a belief in any definite alternative. In Mind and Cosmos, he does suggest that if the materialist account is wrong, then principles of a different kind may also be at work in the history of nature, principles of the growth of order that are in their logical form teleological rather than mechanistic. In spite of the great achievements of the physical sciences, reductive materialism is a world view ripe for displacement. Nagel shows that to recognize its limits is the first step in looking for alternatives, or at least in being open to their possibility.

The Character of Consciousness

Author : David J. Chalmers
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199826617
Total Pages : 626 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (998 download)

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Book Synopsis The Character of Consciousness by : David J. Chalmers

Download or read book The Character of Consciousness written by David J. Chalmers and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-10-28 with total page 626 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book David Chalmers follows up and extends his thoughts and arguments on the nature of consciousness that he first set forth in his groundbreaking 1996 book, The Conscious Mind.

Direct versus Indirect Realism

Author : John R. Smythies
Publisher : Academic Press
ISBN 13 : 0128121424
Total Pages : 300 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (281 download)

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Book Synopsis Direct versus Indirect Realism by : John R. Smythies

Download or read book Direct versus Indirect Realism written by John R. Smythies and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2018-01-12 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Direct versus Indirect Realism: A Neurophilosophical Debate on Consciousness brings together leading neuroscientists and philosophers to explain and defend their theories on consciousness. The book offers a one-of-a-kind look at the radically opposing theories concerning the nature of the objects of immediate perception—whether these are distal physical objects or phenomenal experiences in the conscious mind. Each side—neuroscientists and philosophers—offers accessible, comprehensive explanations of their points-of-view, with each side also providing a response to the other that offers a unique approach on opposing positions. It is the only book available that combines thorough discussion of the arguments behind both direct and indirect realism in a single resource, and is required reading for neuroscientists, neurophilosophers, cognitive scientists and anyone interested in conscious perception and the mind-brain connection. Combines discussion of both direct realism and indirect realism in a single, accessible resource Provides a thorough, well-rounded understanding of not only the opposing views of neuroscientists and philosophers on the nature of conscious perception, but also insight into why the opposition persists Offers a unique "dialog" approach, with neuroscientists and philosophers providing responses and rebuttals to one another’s contributions

The Mystery of Consciousness

Author : John R. Searle
Publisher : New York Review of Books
ISBN 13 : 9780940322066
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (22 download)

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Book Synopsis The Mystery of Consciousness by : John R. Searle

Download or read book The Mystery of Consciousness written by John R. Searle and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 1990-01-01 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has long been one of the most fundamental problems of philosophy, and it is now, John Searle writes, "the most important problem in the biological sciences": What is consciousness? Is my inner awareness of myself something separate from my body? In what began as a series of essays in The New York Review of Books, John Searle evaluates the positions on consciousness of such well-known scientists and philosophers as Francis Crick, Gerald Edelman, Roger Penrose, Daniel Dennett, David Chalmers, and Israel Rosenfield. He challenges claims that the mind works like a computer, and that brain functions can be reproduced by computer programs. With a sharp eye for confusion and contradiction, he points out which avenues of current research are most likely to come up with a biological examination of how conscious states are caused by the brain. Only when we understand how the brain works will we solve the mystery of consciousness, and only then will we begin to understand issues ranging from artificial intelligence to our very nature as human beings.