Summary
Contents
Subject index
`This is surely the ultimate expression of the top-down approach to consciousness, written with Sommerhoff's characteristic clarity and precision. It says far more than other books four times the size of this admirably concise volume. This book is destined to become a pillar of the subject' -Rodney Cotterill, Technical University of Denmark The problem of consciousness has been described as a mystery about which we are still in a terrible muddle and in Understanding Consciousness: Its Function and Brain Processes, the author unravels this mystery through a clarification of the main concepts related to consciousness, followed by a comprehensive biological explanation. Consequently, this book will be idea
Where Does Consciousness Reside in the Brain?
Where Does Consciousness Reside in the Brain?
No ‘Cartesian Theatre’
In the dualist philosophy of Descartes (1596–1650) the mind was seen as a nonmaterial substance distinct from the material brain and interacting with it at just one location, the pineal gland. Descartes had picked on this organ because he saw it as the highest unitary brain structure below the two hemispheres. Dualism, as I have explained, now has few followers among neuroscientists; nor has the belief that at some obscure central location in the brain there is a place where ‘it all comes together’ and consciousness arises. Dennett (1991) calls it a ‘Cartesian Theatre’. A great deal of his widely read and very substantial book is devoted to convincing us ...
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