Exploring ConsciousnessRita Carter ponders the nature, origins, and purpose of consciousness in this fascinating inquiry into the toughest problem facing modern science and philosophy. Building on the foundation of her bestselling book Mapping the Mind, she considers whether consciousness is merely an illusion, a by-product of our brain's workings, some as yet inexplicable feature or property of the material universe or--as the latest physics may suggest--the very fundament of reality. Little, she discovers, is as it first seems. Carter draws from a solid body of knowledge--empirical findings and theoretical hypotheses--about consciousness, much of it derived from recent discoveries about the brain. Her lively, accessible narrative ranges widely over new ways of thinking about the subject and what direction new research is taking. Leading scholars from a range of perspectives provide topical essays that complement Carter's account. The book also discusses how traditional approaches--philosophical, scientific, and experiential--might be brought together to create a more complete understanding of consciousness. |
Contents
1 A Stream of Illusion | 7 |
Vision The Grand Illusion | 12 |
The HigherOrder Thought Model of Consciousness | 41 |
2 The Hard Problem | 43 |
Facing up to Consciousness | 44 |
Facing Backwards on the Problem of Consciousness | 45 |
Solving the Hard Problem Naturally | 64 |
A Quantum Description of Mind | 68 |
What Do Robots Think About? | 174 |
The Primordial SELF | 180 |
7 The Conscious Self | 203 |
Ownership and Agency | 221 |
Predicting the Present | 226 |
Meme Machines and Consciousness | 235 |
Fractured Consciousness | 239 |
9 A Conscious Universe? | 269 |
Common terms and phrases
action airship alter amygdala artificial consciousness associated aware behaviour believe blindsight body brain brain activity brain areas brain processes Capgras delusion cause cells changes cognitive colour complex concept conscious experience cortical create Daniel Dennett dissociation effect emerge emotional encoded example experienced explain eyes feedback feel firing frontal lobes function hang-glider happens hard problem higher-order hippocampus human idea illusion imagine input interaction intuition John Searle knowledge Libet light limbic system look lucid dreaming maps mechanisms memes memory mental mind motor move movement neural activity neurons neurotransmitters normal object parietal lobes particular passengers pathways patterns perception person physical prefrontal cortex produce qualia quantum representation response robot scientists seems sensation sense sensory signals sleep sleep paralysis sort space Stephen LaBerge stimuli switch thalamus things thought triggered turn unconscious universe visual cortex words Zombie