The Mystery Of Consciousness
Sign in to keep track of books you’ve read and want to read.
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?
Read more
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.
Liked The Mystery Of Consciousness? Here’s where I’d start.
These suit anyone who liked The Mystery Of Consciousness. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.
-
The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory Shares philosophy, philosophy of mind, consciousness -
Matter and Consciousness: A Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind Shares philosophy, philosophy of mind, science -
Brainstorms: Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology Shares philosophy, philosophy of mind, psychology -
Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness Shares philosophy, philosophy of mind, consciousness
“People who read The Mystery Of Consciousness tend to reach for these next.”
“If you want more of the same (philosophy), start with these.”
“If it was the philosophy of mind that hooked you, try one of these.”
“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”
- Consciousness and Its Implications
-
Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness
-
Man, Beast, and Zombie: What Science Can and Cannot Tell Us about Human Nature
-
Brain Wars: The Scientific Battle Over the Existence of the Mind and the Proof That Will Change the Way We Live Our Lives