Mind: Your Consciousness is What and Where

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Description

This important new book tackles the great problem of philosophy of mind. Honderich proposes to entirely replace all major competing general theories of consciousness with the theory of Actualism: a theory that rests on data that you share yourself, of consciousness that can be labelled as being actual. Unlike other theories, Actualism differentiates between the three sides of consciousness - consciousness within seeing as well as other perception, consciousness that is thinking and consciousness that is wanting. Honderich argues that your consciousness in seeing right now is probably the existence of a room out there, not some kind of image or picture in your head. A real thing out there, dependent as a matter of scientific law on both the objective physical world and on you as a thinking and breathing person. It is a theory that is becoming increasingly popular among philosophers, psychologists and neuroscientists. Honderich's readable, understandable and unpretentious writing tackles these bold concepts and complex thoughts with clarity and verve, as he moves forward and reinvents our current understanding of consciousness and mind.

Reviews

"Mind is a valuable contribution to the field of consciousness in general and subfields of consciousness in particular, and it deserves a careful study. This book is remarkable in involving its audience within its argument, or as the author himself says, 'you are not supposed to be just a free rider on this train.'"-- "Metapsychology Online Reviews"
"In Actual Consciousness, Honderich laid out a theory of consciousness called actualism. He returns to the same subject in this much briefer book, which follows the same general line of inquiry as the previous one without, the author claims, merely summarizing it but instead offering some "further and different" thoughts. According to Honderich, actualism is meant to be a new kind of physicalism, one that avoids both the dualist fairy tale that consciousness is ghostly and the physicalist fairy tale that consciousness boils down to just the soggy grey matter inside one's head. In Honderich's view, to be perceptually conscious of a room is to see a subjectively physical room. This room is not just in one's head, it is an actual room, but it also should not be identified with the objectively physical room. . . . Recommended."-- "Choice"

Author Bio

Ted Honderich is Grote Professor Emeritus of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic, University College London. He is the author of many books, including Philosopher: A Kind of Life (2000), and editor of the bestselling The Oxford Companion to Philosophy.