
Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind
Sign in to keep track of books you’ve read and want to read.
Evan Thompson asks how life and the mind are connected, a puzzle that has troubled thinkers for generations. Rather than accepting a sharp divide between living matter and conscious experience, he argues the two are far more continuous than many accounts allow.
Read more
Drawing on molecular biology, evolutionary theory, complex systems, neuroscience and continental phenomenology alongside analytic philosophy, he proposes that living systems and minds share basic principles of self-organisation, with the mind representing a richer form of what life already does. The book aims to deepen our understanding of both life and consciousness, and it follows on from the author's earlier collaborative work on embodied cognition.
Liked Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind? Here’s where I’d start.
These suit anyone who liked Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.
-
Action in Perception Shares philosophy, cognitive science, philosophy of mind -
Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness Shares philosophy, neuroscience, science -
Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter Shares philosophy, neuroscience, science -
Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization of the Living Shares philosophy, biology, science
“People who read Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind tend to reach for these next.”
“If you want more of the same (philosophy), start with these.”
“If it was the cognitive science that hooked you, try one of these.”
“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”
-
Embodiment and the Inner Life: Cognition and Consciousness in the Space of Possible Minds
-
Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False
-
Soul Dust: The Magic of Consciousness
-
The Phenomenological Mind: An Introduction to Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science