Consciousness and the Brain: A Scientific and Philosophical Inquiry - Rilegato

Globus, Gordon

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0306308789 ISBN 13: 9780306308789

Casa editrice: Plenum Pub Corp, 1976

Riassunto

The relationship of consciousness to brain, which Schopenhauer grandly referred to as the "world knot," remains an unsolved problem within both philosophy and science. The central focus in what follows is the relevance of science---from psychoanalysis to neurophysiology and quantum physics-to the mind-brain puzzle. Many would argue that we have advanced little since the age of the Greek philosophers, and that the extraordinary accumulation of neuroscientific knowledge in this century has helped not at all. Increas­ ingly, philosophers and scientists have tended to go their separate ways in considering the issues, since they tend to differ in the questions that they ask, the data and ideas which are provided for consideration, their methods for answering these questions, and criteria for judging the acceptability of an answer. But it is our conviction that philosophers and scientists can usefully interchange, at least to the extent that they provide co~straints upon each other's preferred strategies, and it may prove possible for more substantive progress to be made. Philosophers have said some rather naive things by ignoring the extraordinary advances in the neurosciences in the twentieth century. The skull is not filled with green cheese! On the other hand, the arrogance of many scientists toward philosophy and their faith in the scientific method is equally naive. Scientists clearly have much to learn from philosophy as an intellectual discipline.

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Contenuti:

1 Manifestations of Mind: Some Conceptual and Empirical Issues.- The Nature of the Issues.- The Role of Data in Philosophy and Science.- The Manifestations of Mind and Body.- Concluding Caveat.- References.- 2 The Mysterious “Split”: A Clinical Inquiry Into Problems of Consciousness and Brain.- Clinical Vignette: A Splitting Headache.- Empirical Findings.- Some Implications: Knowledge and Reality.- Motives behind the Questions: Some Speculations.- References.- 3 Mind, Brain, and the Symbolic Consciousness.- Psychoanalysis and the Symbolic Consciousness.- Free Association and the Origin of the Problem of Consciousness and Brain.- Three Levels of Symbolic Activity.- Symbolic Forms and Archaic Remnants.- Symbolic Pregnance.- References.- 4 Brain and Free Will.- Philosophical Introduction.- Structural and Functional Concepts of the Cerebral Cortex.- Cerebral Responses during Willed Action.- Unconscious Actions Emanating from the Human Cerebral Cortex.- References.- 5 An Old Ghost in a New Body.- Interaction.- Intelligent Behavior.- Consciousness.- Free Agency.- Disproving Cartesianism.- References.- How Dogmatic can Materialism be?.- 6 Mental Phenomena as Causal Determinants in Brain Function.- An Emergent Theory.- Comparison with Identity Theory.- A Simple Approach.- The Bisected Brain and Unity of Consciousness.- Privacy of Subjective Experience.- References.- 7 Consciousness as an Emergent Causal Agent in the Context of Control System Theory.- Mutual Entrainment of Oscillations.- Ontological Status of Consciousness in Relation to the Mutual Entrainment Paradigm.- Generalized Mutual Entrainment.- On the Concepts of Self and Identity in the Context of Self-Reflective Awareness and Feedback.- Could a Machine Have a Consciousness?.- Conclusion.- References.- 8 Reductionism, Levels of Organization, and the Mind-Body Problem.- I: Sperry’s View of the Mental.- II: Reduction and Its Functions—Real and Mythological.- III: Levels, and Their Significance For Reduction.- References.- 9 Mind, Structure, and Contradiction.- Complementarity Reconsidered.- Phenomenological Issues.- The “Mental” and the “Physical”.- Mind and the Intrinsic Perspective.- The Relevance of Godel’s Proof.- Comparison to Other Solutions.- Universal Consciousness.- Coda: In Defense of “Panpsychism”.- References.- 10 Problems Concerning the Structure of Consciousness.- Achieving Consciousness.- Brain and Consciousness.- Constructional Realism.- The Disposition toward Self-Consciousness.- Intentionality.- Volition.- Transcendentalism and the Logical Paradox.- References.- 11 The Role of Scientific Results in Theories of Mind and Brain: A Conversation among Philosophers and Scientists.- Scientific Results and the Mind-Brain Issue: Some Afterthoughts.- Contributor Index.

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Su questa edizione

• Editore: Plenum Pub Corp
• Data di pubblicazione: 1976
• ISBN 10: 0306308789
• ISBN 13: 9780306308789
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 378