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Mind and the Cosmic Order: How the Mind Creates the Features & Structure of All Things, and Why this Insight Transforms Physics
by Charles PinterThe topic of this book is the relationship between mind and the physical world. From once being an esoteric question of philosophy, this subject has become a central topic in the foundations of quantum physics. The book traces this story back to Descartes, through Kant, to the beginnings of 20th Century physics, where it becomes clear that the mind-world relationship is not a speculative question but has a direct impact on the understanding of physical phenomena. The book’s argument begins with the British empiricists who raised our awareness of the fact that we have no direct contact with physical reality, but it is the mind that constructs the form and features of objects. It is shown that modern cognitive science brings this insight a step further by suggesting that shape and structure are not internal to objects, but arise in the observer. The author goes yet further by arguing that the meaningful connectedness between things — the hierarchical organization of all we perceive — is the result of the Gestalt nature of perception and thought, and exists only as a property of mind. These insights give the first glimmerings of a new way of seeing the cosmos: not as a mineral wasteland but a place inhabited by creatures.
The Mind and the Market
by Jerry Z. MullerCapitalism has never been a subject for economists alone. Philosophers, politicians, poets and social scientists have debated the cultural, moral, and political effects of capitalism for centuries, and their claims have been many and diverse. The Mind and the Market is a remarkable history of how the idea of capitalism has developed in Western thought.Ranging across an ideological spectrum that includes Hobbes, Voltaire, Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, Hegel, Marx, and Matthew Arnold, as well as twentieth-century communist, fascist, and neoliberal intellectuals, historian Jerry Muller examines a fascinating thread of ideas about the ramifications of capitalism and its future implications. This is an engaging and accessible history of ideas that reverberate throughout everyday life.From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Mind and the Soul: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind (Routledge Library Editions: Philosophy of Mind)
by Jenny TeichmanThe concepts of mind and soul have occupied the thoughts of philosophers throughout the ages and have given rise to numerous conflicting theories. This book provides an incisive and stimulating introduction to central tropics in the philosophy of mind. The author writes about the differences and connections between the ideas of ‘mind’ and ‘soul’ and about the metaphysical issues of Dualism, Solipsism, Behaviourism and Materialism. In the course of her account she discusses the arguments of several philosophers including Plato, Descartes, Wittgenstein, Ryle and Hume. Review of the original edition, 1974: "It is clear, incisive and unidiosyncratic. Issues and theories are discussed simply yet without serious distortion or vapidity, and the book is full of argument.’ – Stewart Candish, Mind
The Mind and the Way
by Ajahn Sumedho Venerable Balangoda AnandamaitreyaWhat would life be like if each one of us chose compassion over anger, loving-kindness over hatred, awareness over ignorance? The Mind and the Way demonstrates a radically simple approach to life, one in which we are able to awaken to our true loving nature and delight in the mystery and wonder of the world. With warmth and a wonderful sense of humor, Ajahn Sumedho draws on the experiences of ordinary life to convey Buddhist insights that for 2,500 years have continued to remain vital and pertinent to our lives.
Mind and World
by John McdowellModern Philosophy finds it difficult to give a satisfactory picture of the place of minds in the world. In Mind and World, based on the 1991 John Locke Lectures, one of the most distinguished philosophers writing today offers his diagnosis of this difficulty and points to a cure. In doing so, he delivers the most complete and ambitious statement to date of his own views, a statement that no one concerned with the future of philosophy can afford to ignore. John McDowell amply illustrates a major problem of modern philosophy--the insidious persistence of dualism--in his discussion of empirical thought. Much as we would like to conceive empirical thought as rationally grounded in experience, pitfalls await anyone who tries to articulate this position, and McDowell exposes these traps by exploiting the work of contemporary philosophers from Wilfrid Sellars to Donald Davidson. These difficulties, he contends, reflect an understandable--but surmountable--failure to see how we might integrate what Sellars calls the logical space of reasons" into the natural world. What underlies this impasse is a conception of nature that has certain attractions for the modern age, a conception that McDowell proposes to put aside, thus circumventing these philosophical difficulties. By returning to a pre-modern conception of nature but retaining the intellectual advance of modernity that has mistakenly been viewed as dislodging it, he makes room for a fully satisfying conception of experience as a rational openness to independent reality. This approach also overcomes other obstacles that impede a generally satisfying understanding of how we are placed in the world.
Mind and World in Aristotle's De Anima
by Sean KelseyWhy is the human mind able to perceive and understand the truth about reality; that is, why does it seem to be the mind's specific function to know the world? Sean Kelsey argues that both the question itself and the way Aristotle answers it are key to understanding his work De Anima, a systematic philosophical account of the soul and its powers. In this original reading of a familiar but highly compressed text, Kelsey shows how this question underpins Aristotle's inquiry into the nature of soul, sensibility, and intelligence. He argues that, for Aristotle, the reason why it is in human nature to know beings is that 'the soul in a way is all beings'. This new perspective on the De Anima throws fresh and interesting light on familiar Aristotelian doctrines: for example, that sensibility is a kind of ratio (logos), or that the intellect is simple, separate, and unmixed.
Mind Beyond Brain: Buddhism, Science, and the Paranormal
by David PrestiAmong the most profound questions we confront are the nature of what and who we are as conscious beings, and how the human mind relates to the rest of what we consider reality. For millennia, philosophers, scientists, and religious thinkers have attempted answers, perhaps none more meaningful today than those offered by neuroscience and by Buddhism. The encounter between these two worldviews has spurred ongoing conversations about what science and Buddhism can teach each other about mind and reality.In Mind Beyond Brain, the neuroscientist David E. Presti, with the assistance of other distinguished researchers, explores how evidence for anomalous phenomena—such as near-death experiences, apparent memories of past lives, apparitions, experiences associated with death, and other so-called psi or paranormal phenomena, including telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition—can influence the Buddhism-science conversation. Presti describes the extensive but frequently unacknowledged history of scientific investigation into these phenomena, demonstrating its relevance to questions about consciousness and reality. The new perspectives opened up, if we are willing to take evidence of such often off-limits topics seriously, offer significant challenges to dominant explanatory paradigms and raise the prospect that we may be poised for truly revolutionary developments in the scientific investigation of mind. Mind Beyond Brain represents the next level in the science and Buddhism dialogue.
Mind, Body, and Digital Brains (Integrated Science #20)
by Flavia Santoianni Alessandro Ciasullo Gianluca GianniniThis book—Mind, Body, and Digital Brains—focuses on both theoretical and empirical issues and joins contributions from different disciplines, concepts, and sensibilities, bringing together scholars from fields that at first glance may appear different—Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuroscience; Robotics, Computer Science, Deep Learning, and Information Processing Systems; Education, Philosophy, Law, and Psychology. All these research fields are held together by the very object to be discussed: a broad, articulate, and polyphonic reflection on the status of theories and fields of application of Digital Technologies and Artificial Intelligence, seen from the perspective of the digital mind, digital body, and digital brain. Scientific and humanistic issues will be considered through an interdisciplinary point of view, with the purpose of deepening emerging trends about various disciplines. This book offers a framework for different perspectives and, at the same time, a platform for discussion aimed not only at experts, but also at a non-specialist public interested in the digital revolution. The digital revolution is emerging from the intertwining of ethical, philosophical, and technological aspects, which concern several general issues as cooperation, law, and environment, but also specialized as cybersecurity or algorithmic citizenship. More questions arise, concerning which opportunities and risks are associated with the new scenarios, what idea of humanity is emerging from the increasingly widespread use of Artificial Intelligence technologies, and what idea of integrated science should we promote to accompany the ongoing transformations.
Mind, Body, and Morality: New Perspectives on Descartes and Spinoza (Routledge Studies in Seventeenth-Century Philosophy)
by Martina Reuter Frans SvenssonThe turn of the millennium has been marked by new developments in the study of early modern philosophy. In particular, the philosophy of René Descartes has been reinterpreted in a number of important and exciting ways, specifically concerning his work on the mind-body union, the connection between objective and formal reality, and his status as a moral philosopher. These fresh interpretations have coincided with a renewed interest in overlooked parts of the Cartesian corpus and a sustained focus on the similarities between Descartes’ thought and the philosophy of Baruch Spinoza. Mind, Body, and Morality consists of fifteen chapters written by scholars who have contributed significantly to the new turn in Descartes and Spinoza scholarship. The volume is divided into three parts. The first group of chapters examines different metaphysical and epistemological problems raised by the Cartesian mind-body union. Part II investigates Descartes’ and Spinoza’s understanding of the relations between ideas, knowledge, and reality. Special emphasis is put on Spinoza’s conception of the relation between activity and passivity. Finally, the last part explores different aspects of Descartes’ moral philosophy, connecting his views to important predecessors, Augustine and Abelard, and comparing them to Spinoza.
Mind-Body Entanglement: Theory and Therapies (SpringerBriefs in Philosophy)
by Pierre UzanThis book suggests a radical departure in approaching the mind-body problem. Instead of trying to causally relate subjective experience to the functioning of the body, it begins with the notion of the psychosomatic unity of the individual and looks for its conditions of possibility. This text shows that what makes this unity possible is the generalized entanglement relation that connects a person's subjective experience with its body functioning in a specific way.In addition to providing a significant contribution to the long-standing philosophical debate about the nature of the mind-body connection, this change of perspective based on the concept of generalized entanglement allows for exploring a holistic approach to health. It can for example explain the existence of body memory and leads to a better understanding of the genesis and evolution of internal diseases, allowing for the development of mind-body therapies. This volume also provides new insights into mental disorders and sets the theoretical basis of self-healing methods appealing to students, researchers and professionals in the fields.
Mind, Body, Motion, Matter: Eighteenth-Century British and French Literary Perspectives
by Alison Conway Mary Helen McmurranMind, Body, Motion, Matter investigates the relationship between the eighteenth century's two predominant approaches to the natural world - mechanistic materialism and vitalism - in the works of leading British and French writers such as Daniel Defoe, William Hogarth, Laurence Sterne, the third Earl of Shaftesbury and Denis Diderot. Focusing on embodied experience and the materialization of thought in poetry, novels, art, and religion, the literary scholars in this collection offer new and intriguing readings of these canonical authors. Informed by contemporary currents such as new materialism, cognitive studies, media theory, and post-secularism, their essays demonstrate the volatility of the core ideas opened up by materialism and the possibilities of an aesthetic vitalism of form.
The Mind-Body Politic
by Michelle Maiese Robert HannaBuilding on contemporary research in embodied cognition, enactivism, and the extended mind, this book explores how social institutions in contemporary neoliberal nation-states systematically affect our thoughts, feelings, and agency. Human beings are, necessarily, social animals who create and belong to social institutions. But social institutions take on a life of their own, and literally shape the minds of all those who belong to them, for better or worse, usually without their being self-consciously aware of it. Indeed, in contemporary neoliberal societies, it is generally for the worse. In The Mind-Body Politic, Michelle Maiese and Robert Hanna work out a new critique of contemporary social institutions by deploying the special standpoint of the philosophy of mind—in particular, the special standpoint of the philosophy of what they call essentially embodied minds—and make a set of concrete, positive proposals for radically changing both these social institutions and also our essentially embodied lives for the better.
The Mind-body Problem: An Opinionated Introduction (Focus Ser.)
by D. M. ArmstrongThe relation of mind to body has been argued about by philosophers for centuries. The Mind-Body Problem: An Opinionated Introduction presents the problem as a debate between materialists about the mind and their opponents. After examining the views of Descartes, Hume and Thomas Huxley the debate is traced through the twentieth century to the present day. The emphasis is always on the arguments used, and the way one position develops from another. By the end of the book the reader is afforded both a grasp of the state of the controversy, and how we got there.
The Mind--Body Problem
by Jonathan WestphalPhilosophers from Descartes to Kripke have struggled with the glittering prize of modern and contemporary philosophy: the mind-body problem. The brain is physical. If the mind is physical, we cannot see how. If we cannot see how the mind is physical, we cannot see how it can interact with the body. And if the mind is not physical, it cannot interact with the body. Or so it seems. In this book the philosopher Jonathan Westphal examines the mind-body problem in detail, laying out the reasoning behind the solutions that have been offered in the past and presenting his own proposal. The sharp focus on the mind-body problem, a problem that is not about the self, or consciousness, or the soul, or anything other than the mind and the body, helps clarify both problem and solutions. Westphal outlines the history of the mind-body problem, beginning with Descartes. He describes mind-body dualism, which claims that the mind and the body are two different and separate things, nonphysical and physical, and he also examines physicalist theories of mind; antimaterialism, which proposes limits to physicalism and introduces the idea of qualia; and scientific theories of consciousness. Finally, Westphal examines the largely forgotten neutral monist theories of mind and body, held by Ernst Mach, William James, and Bertrand Russell, which attempt neither to extract mind from matter nor to dissolve matter into mind. Westphal proposes his own version of neutral monism. This version is unique among neutral monist theories in offering an account of mind-body interaction.
The Mind-Body Problem (The MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series)
by Jonathan WestphalAn introduction to the mind–body problem, covering all the proposed solutions and offering a powerful new one. Philosophers from Descartes to Kripke have struggled with the glittering prize of modern and contemporary philosophy: the mind-body problem. The brain is physical. If the mind is physical, we cannot see how. If we cannot see how the mind is physical, we cannot see how it can interact with the body. And if the mind is not physical, it cannot interact with the body. Or so it seems.In this book the philosopher Jonathan Westphal examines the mind-body problem in detail, laying out the reasoning behind the solutions that have been offered in the past and presenting his own proposal. The sharp focus on the mind-body problem, a problem that is not about the self, or consciousness, or the soul, or anything other than the mind and the body, helps clarify both problem and solutions. Westphal outlines the history of the mind-body problem, beginning with Descartes. He describes mind-body dualism, which claims that the mind and the body are two different and separate things, nonphysical and physical, and he also examines physicalist theories of mind; antimaterialism, which proposes limits to physicalism and introduces the idea of qualia; and scientific theories of consciousness. Finally, Westphal examines the largely forgotten neutral monist theories of mind and body, held by Ernst Mach, William James, and Bertrand Russell, which attempt neither to extract mind from matter nor to dissolve matter into mind. Westphal proposes his own version of neutral monism. This version is unique among neutral monist theories in offering an account of mind-body interaction.
The Mind-Body Problem and Metaphysics: An Argument from Consciousness to Mental Substance (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy)
by Ralph Stefan WeirThis book evaluates the widespread preference in philosophy of mind for varieties of property dualism over other alternatives to physicalism. It takes the standard motivations for property dualism as a starting point and argues that these lead directly to nonphysical substances resembling the soul of traditional metaphysics. In the first half of the book, the author clarifies what is at issue in the choice between theories that posit nonphysical properties only and those that posit nonphysical substances. The crucial question, he argues, is whether one posits nonphysical things that satisfy an Aristotelian-Cartesian independence definition of substance: nonphysical things that could exist in the absence of anything else. In the second half, the author argues that standard and Russellian monist forms of property dualism are far less plausible than we usually suppose. Most significantly, the presuppositions of one of the leading arguments for property dualism, the conceivability argument, lead by parity of reasoning to the view that conscious subjects are nonphysical substances. He concludes that if you posit nonphysical properties in response to the mind-body problem, then you should be prepared to posit nonphysical substances as well. Mainstream philosophy of mind must take nonphysical substances far more seriously than it has done for the best part of a century. The Mind-Body Problem and Metaphysics will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and the history of philosophy.
The Mind-Body Stage: Passion and Interaction in the Cartesian Theater
by R. Darren GobertDescartes's notion of subjectivity changed the way characters would be written, performed by actors, and received by audiences. His coordinate system reshaped how theatrical space would be conceived and built. His theory of the passions revolutionized our understanding of the emotional exchange between spectacle and spectators. Yet theater scholars have not seen Descartes's transformational impact on theater history. Nor have philosophers looked to this history to understand his reception and impact. After Descartes, playwrights put Cartesian characters on the stage and thematized their rational workings. Actors adapted their performances to account for new models of subjectivity and physiology. Critics theorized the theater's emotional and ethical benefits in Cartesian terms. Architects fostered these benefits by altering their designs. The Mind-Body Stage provides a dazzlingly original picture of one of the most consequential and confusing periods in the histories of modern theater and philosophy. Interdisciplinary and comparatist in scope, it uses methodological techniques from literary study, philosophy, theater history, and performance studies and draws on scores of documents (including letters, libretti, religious jeremiads, aesthetic treatises, and architectural plans) from several countries.
The Mind-Brain Continuum: Psychoneurointracrinology
by Susan GordonThis insightful book proposes a holistic theory of the development of self, drawing on interdisciplinary literature in existential-phenomenology, neurophenomenology, intracrinology, endocrinology, and naturopathic medicine. The psychoneurointracrine hypothesis bridges the gap between the mind and brain, providing a framework to explain the complex system that facilitates development of one’s sense of self and well-being. The book challenges assumptions in present day neuroscience and psychiatry, placing the mind and brain on a continuum of health and growth rather than reducing the study of human consciousness to neurobiological terms and pathological classifications.“In this landmark book, Susan Gordon presents a bold hypothesis, one that underscores the importance of psychoneurointracrine activity and links it to female neurology and the development of one’s sense of self. She brilliantly places this activity, which serves as a mind-body bridge, within the frameworks of neurophenomenology and non-linear dynamics. Her psychoneurointracrine hypothesis is a tour de force, one that is holistic, integrating intracrinology with psychology and neurology. This hypothesis undercuts the current assumption that the mind is an epiphenomenon of the brain, creating a paradigm that impacts science’s understanding of behavior, experience, consciousness, and human agency.”Stanley Krippner, PhD, Affiliated Distinguished Faculty, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA“In her fascinating book, Susan Gordon develops a novel theory about the biological connection between mind, brain, and organism. Drawing on empirical research on the role of the female hormonal system in basal states of self and mood, she shows that the biochemistry of the endocrine system must be viewed as an indispensable foundation for the emergence of embodied self-awareness. The homeostasis and hormonal balance of the organism is integral to the sense of well-being and the development of meaning, but it is also continually modulated and influenced by the subject’s experience of his or her world. She makes a decisive contribution to a theory of embodiment that goes far beyond a computational theory of the brain to focus on the biochemical-organismic processes at the root of the mind.”Thomas Fuchs, MD, PhD, Karl Jaspers Professor of Philosophy and Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, DE
Mind, Character and Personality (Christian Home Library #Volume 1)
by Ellen G. WhiteIn Ellen G. White's lifetime (1827-1915) psychology, the science that treats of the mind and its powers and functions, was in its infancy. Yet there emerges throughout her writings a distinctive philosophy in which guidelines in this science and to mental health are clearly portrayed. The purpose of this compilation is to bring together for convenient study the Ellen G. White statements in this broad, important, and sometimes controversial field. Seventh-day Adventists, and others with their conviction that the author wrote under the influence of the Spirit of God, treasure guidance in a field so vital to all humanity at a time when schools of psychological thought are varied and changing. The soundness of author's views in the areas of physiology, nutrition, and education, as well as in other fields, has been well demonstrated.
Mind, Character and Personality (Christian Home Library #Volume 2)
by Ellen G. WhiteA large portion of this book presents general guiding principles. This is interspersed and supplemented with materials setting forth practical admonitions and counsels in the setting of the relationship of the teacher and the student, the minister and the parishioner, the physician and the patient, or the parent and the child. The counsels in scores of instances addressed to an executive, minister, physician, teacher, editor, husband, homemaker, or youth may, in their revelation or circumstances and advice given, partake somewhat of the form of case histories. Attention should be directed to the principles involved. The book is somewhat encyclopedic. Each quotation carries a specific credit to its source in the Ellen G. White materials, making it possible for the reader in many cases to turn to the full original context.
The Mind Club: Who Thinks, What Feels, and Why It Matters
by Kurt Gray Daniel M. Wegner"Daniel Wegner was one of psychology's most creative minds, and Kurt Gray was one of his most creative collaborators. The Mind Club describes their biggest idea together using thought-provoking examples, clever writing, and brilliant experiments. Essential reading for anyone who owns a mind and wants to know how to use it!"--Nicholas Epley, Professor of Behavioral Science, University of Chicago Booth School of Business and author of MindwiseFrom dogs to gods, the science of understanding mysterious minds--including your own. Nothing seems more real than the minds of other people. When you consider what your boss is thinking or whether your spouse is happy, you are admitting them into the "mind club." It's easy to assume other humans can think and feel, but what about a cow, a computer, a corporation? What kinds of mind do they have? Daniel M. Wegner and Kurt Gray are award-winning psychologists who have discovered that minds--while incredibly important--are a matter of perception. Their research opens a trove of new findings, with insights into human behavior that are fascinating, frightening and funny. The Mind Club explains why we love some animals and eat others, why people debate the existence of God so intensely, how good people can be so cruel, and why robots make such poor lovers. By investigating the mind perception of extraordinary targets--animals, machines, comatose people, god--Wegner and Gray explain what it means to have a mind, and why it matters so much. Fusing cutting-edge research and personal anecdotes, The Mind Club explores the moral dimensions of mind perception with wit and compassion, revealing the surprisingly simple basis for what compels us to love and hate, to harm and to protect.From the Hardcover edition.
Mind, Cognition, and Neuroscience: A Philosophical Introduction
by Benjamin D. Young Carolyn Dicey JenningsThis carefully designed, multi-authored textbook covers a broad range of theoretical issues in cognitive science, psychology, and neuroscience. With accessible language, a uniform structure, and many pedagogical features, Mind, Cognition, and Neuroscience: A Philosophical Introdution is the best high-level overview of this area for an interdisciplinary readership of students. Written specifically for this volume by experts in their fields who are also experienced teachers, the book’s thirty chapters are organized into the following parts: I. Background KnowledgeII. Classical DebatesIII. ConsciousnessIV. Crossing Boundaries Each chapter starts with relevant key words and definitions and a chapter overview, then presents historical coverage of the topic, explains and analyzes contemporary debates, and ends with a sketch of cutting edge research. A list of suggested readings and helpful discussion topics conclude each chapter. This uniform, student-friendly design makes it possible to teach a cohort of both philosophy and interdisciplinary students without assuming prior understanding of philosophical concepts, cognitive science, or neuroscience. Key Features: Synthesizes the now decades-long explosion of scientifically informed philosophical research in the study of mind. Expands on the offerings of other textbooks by including chapters on language, concepts and non-conceptual content, and animal cognition. Offers the same structure in each chapter, moving the reader through an overview, historical coverage, contemporary debates, and finally cutting-edge research. Packed with pedagogical features, like defined Key Terms, Suggested Readings, and Discussion Questions for each chapter, as well as a General Glossary. Provides readers with clear, chapter-long introductions to Cognitive Neuroscience, Molecular and Cellular Cognition, Experimental Methods in Cognitive Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Science, Metaphysical Issues, and Epistemic Issues.
Mind, Cognition and Representation: The Tradition of Commentaries on Aristotle’s De anima (Ashgate Studies in Medieval Philosophy)
by Paul J.J.M. BakkerHow can beliefs, which are immaterial, be about things? How can the body be the seat of thought? This book traces the historical roots of the cognitive sciences and examines pre-modern conceptualizations of the mind as presented and discussed in the tradition of commentaries on Aristotle's De anima from 1200 until 1650. It explores medieval and Renaissance views on questions which nowadays would be classified under the philosophy of mind, that is, questions regarding the identity and nature of the mind and its cognitive relation to the material world. In exploring the development of scholastic ideas, concepts, arguments, and theories in the tradition of commentaries on De anima, and their relation to modern philosophy, this book dissolves the traditional periodization into Middle Ages, Renaissance and early modern times. By placing key issues in their philosophico-historical context, not only is due attention paid to Aristotle's own views, but also to those of hitherto little-studied medieval and Renaissance commentators.
Mind Ecologies: Body, Brain, and World
by Matthew Crippen Jay SchulkinPragmatism—a pluralistic philosophy with kinships to phenomenology, Gestalt psychology, and embodied cognitive science—is resurging across disciplines. It has growing relevance to literary studies, the arts, and religious scholarship, along with branches of political theory, not to mention our understanding of science. But philosophies and sciences of mind have lagged behind this pragmatic turn, for the most part retaining a central-nervous-system orientation, which pragmatists reject as too narrow.Matthew Crippen, a philosopher of mind, and Jay Schulkin, a behavioral neuroscientist, offer an innovative interdisciplinary theory of mind. They argue that pragmatism in combination with phenomenology is not only able to give an unusually persuasive rendering of how we think, feel, experience, and act in the world but also provides the account most consistent with current evidence from cognitive science and neurobiology. Crippen and Schulkin contend that cognition, emotion, and perception are incomplete without action, and in action they fuse together. Not only are we embodied subjects whose thoughts, emotions, and capacities comprise one integrated system; we are living ecologies inseparable from our surroundings, our cultures, and our world. Ranging from social coordination to the role of gut bacteria and visceral organs in mental activity, and touching upon fields such as robotics, artificial intelligence, and plant cognition, Crippen and Schulkin stress the role of aesthetics, emotions, interests, and moods in the ongoing enactment of experience. Synthesizing philosophy, neurobiology, psychology, and the history of science, Mind Ecologies offers a broad and deep exploration of evidence for the embodied, embedded, enacted, and extended nature of mind.
Mind Games
by Martin CohenThis original and innovative book is an exploration of one of the key mysteries of the mind, the question of consciousness. Conducted through a one month course of both practical and entertaining 'thought experiments', these stimulating mind-games are used as a vehicle for investigating the complexities of the way the mind works.By turns, fun, eye-opening and intriguing approach to thinking about thinking, which contains inventive and engaging 'thought experiments' for the general readerIncludes specially drawn illustrations by the French avant-garde artist, JuditReunites the social science disciplines of psychology, sociology and political theory with the traditional concerns of philosophy