Consciousness: A Guide to the Debates

(Hardback)

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An exciting and up-to-the-minute introduction to consciousness research and its applications to our waking and sleeping moments. Science now debates great consciousness puzzles such as chess-playing computers, dream states, and optical illusions. Opposing theorists ponder if a red sunset exists in the sky or in the head and why feelings affect thinking. Can objective science study subjective experience Once philosophical, consciousness is now an exciting science. Author Anthony Freeman, managing editor of the Journal of Consciousness Studies, opens Consciousness with a history of mind study, and ends with a review of multidisciplinary cognitive science. Between, it's a wild ride of conflicting theories on the working of the brain and up-to-the-minute research. "Seeing" vs. "believing", mind/body connections, zombies, and assembly line robots are just the beginning. Even chaos theory and quantum physics are relevant, with opposing approaches inciting disciplinary battles. This illustrated and accessible volume profiles key researchers like Wilder Penfield, who chatted with his conscious sister while removing a tumor from her brain.

Reviews

"[A]s entertaining as it is helpful ... Its claim as an overview is made good but not so detailed or erudite to make it unreadable by the layperson." - American Reference Books Annual

Author Bio

Anthony Freeman is managing editor of the Journal of Consciousness Studies.