Consciousness, Seeing, and Knowing, digital original edition

Consciousness, Seeing, and Knowing, digital original edition
Author: Michael Tye
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 42
Release: 2014-01-10
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0262318679

The philosopher Michael Tye, reversing his previous position, rejects the phenomenal concept strategy (which holds that we possess a range of special concepts for classifying the subjective aspects of our experiences) and formulates another approach for defending materialism. In this BIT, he examines one puzzle of consciousness that philosophical materialism must confront after rejecting the phenomenal concept strategy.

Digital Consciousness: A Transformative Vision

Digital Consciousness: A Transformative Vision
Author: Jim Elvidge
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2018-12-14
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1785357611

What could be a more compelling read than a book that explains the greatest mysteries known to man in one fell swoop. Who is God? What happens after we die? What the heck is quantum entanglement? Why did Dolly’s braces disappear in the movie "Moonraker?" Our reality is not what it appears to be. The latest physics experiments demonstrate that an objective reality doesn’t exist. And no one truly knows what consciousness is or where the mind resides. Strange interconnectedness, anomalous events, and changing histories confound even the most open-minded of scientists. No single theory seems to be able to explain it all. Until now.

Feeling & Knowing

Feeling & Knowing
Author: Antonio Damasio
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2021-10-26
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1524747564

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.

In Defense of the HOT Thesis, digital original edition

In Defense of the HOT Thesis, digital original edition
Author: Rocco J. Gennaro
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 50
Release: 2014-01-10
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0262318695

Consciousness is perhaps the most puzzling aspect of the world and yet it is so very familiar to each of us. In this BIT, tackling a central paradox of consciousness (namely, how it is possible to hold a number of seemingly inconsistent views about it), Rocco Gennaro proposes a version of the HOT (higher order thought) thesis that is consistent with animal consciousness. Gennaro's integration of empirical and philosophical concerns will make his argument of interest to both philosophers and nonphilosophers.

The Ontological Problem, digital original edition

The Ontological Problem, digital original edition
Author: Paul M. Churchland
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 73
Release: 2014-01-10
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 026231861X

This selection from a recently updated edition of a classic work by Paul Churchland considers such questions as the nature of mental states and processes, in what medium they take place, how they are related to the physical world, whether consciousness survives the disintegration of the physical body, and if a purely physical system such as a computer could enjoy real conscious experience. It proceeds by investigating which of the available theories of mind proves to be the most reasonable theory on the evidence and has the greatest explanatory power, predictive power, coherence, and simplicity.

When Your Eyes Are Closed, What Do You See?, digital original edition

When Your Eyes Are Closed, What Do You See?, digital original edition
Author: Eric Schwitzgebel
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 73
Release: 2014-01-10
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0262318636

What do we know about our inner life, our stream of conscious experience? In this BIT, Eric Schwitzgebel investigates some of our singularly inaccurate judgments about conscious experience. He considers unattended stimuli (does unremembered mean unexperienced?) and our visual experience when our eyes are closed.

Neither Slave Nor Master, digital original edition

Neither Slave Nor Master, digital original edition
Author: Michael P. Lynch
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 28
Release: 2014-01-10
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0262318717

Why does rationality matter for democracy? In this BIT, Michael Lynch offers a spirited defense of reason and rationality in an era of widespread skepticism. Lynch investigates how our reason is affected by emotion and intuition, discussing, among other things, fMRIs of the brains of George Bush supporters, the Platonist ideal of reason, and Huck Finn's moral dilemma.

Virtual Agency, digital original edition

Virtual Agency, digital original edition
Author: Daniel M. Wegner
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 68
Release: 2014-01-10
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 026231973X

Do we consciously cause our actions, or do they happen to us? Philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, theologians, and lawyers have long debated the existence of free will versus determinism. This BIT, excerpted from an influential book by the late Daniel Wegner, offers an innovative view of one aspect of free will. Wegner argues that when people project action to imaginary agents, they create virtual agents, apparent sources of their own volition.

Science for Monks: Buddhism and Science, digital original edition

Science for Monks: Buddhism and Science, digital original edition
Author: Owen Flanagan
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 55
Release: 2014-01-10
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0262318873

How is meaning possible in a material world? Owen Flanagan proposes a naturalistic (rather than supernaturalistic) way to live meaningfully, to live a life that really matters, to flourish, to achieve eudaimonia—to be a “happy spirit.” In this BIT, Flanagan draws on insights from neuroscience and on the transformative mindfulness and self-cultivation practices in Buddhism.

The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness

The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness
Author: Mark Solms
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2021-02-16
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0393542025

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.