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Loading... Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction (2005)by Susan Blackmore
None.  jpporter | Aug 15, 2012 |  A clean scientific and philosophical approach to the problem of human consciousness. The starting key question: How does it feel to be a bat? It does not teach you but presents a lot of questions with possible answers. (Who knows maybe you can answer better). “How to define a state of consciousness and the state of corresponding brain activities?" You will know many new terms and phenomena from the field of neurology, physiology and the human paradox thinking (Synaesthesia? Occipital lobe? Ventral stream?) . Curious chapters like “Speed and Consciousness”, “Drugs and consciousness”. Funny drawings make it easy to read indeed. The book size is also inviting – 143 page, 15x10cm. pathlessness | Dec 25, 2007 | A fine, and very short, introduction to theory of consciousness. The brevity of the book means that sometimes connections are not perfectly clear, but for that there are more detailed texts available (which are listed in an annotated bibliography). (  ) mschaefer | May 20, 2007 | I've reread this very short book several times. It's well written, very clear, and gets to the heart of the big questions about consciousness in a very concise manner. If you want to start reading about the subject, this really is a great place to do so. I'm pretty sympathetic to Blackmore's philosophical outlook, so I may find this more appealing than non-materialists might. (  ) TomSlee | Jan 24, 2007 | no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0192805851, Paperback)"The last great mystery for science," consciousness has become a controversial topic. Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction challenges readers to reconsider key concepts such as personality, free will, and the soul. How can a physical brain create our experience of the world? What creates our identity? Do we really have free will? Could consciousness itself be an illusion? Exciting new developments in brain science are opening up these debates, and the field has now expanded to include biologists, neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers. This book clarifies the potentially confusing arguments and clearly describes the major theories, with illustrations and lively cartoons to help explain the experiments. Topics include vision and attention, theories of self, experiments on action and awareness, altered states of consciousness, and the effects of brain damage and drugs. This lively, engaging, and authoritative book provides a clear overview of the subject that combines the perspectives of philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience--and serves as a much-needed launch pad for further exploration of this complicated and unsolved issue.(retrieved from Amazon Wed, 20 Apr 2011 04:49:18 -0400) "Consciousness, 'the last great mystery for science', has now become a hot topic. How can a physical brain create our experience of the world? What creates our identity? Do we really have free will? Could consciousness itself be an illusion? Exciting new developments in brain science are opening up debates on these issues, and the field has now expanded to include biologists, neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers. This controversial book clarifies the potentially confusing arguments, and the major theories using illustrations, lively cartoons, and experiments. Topics include vision and attention, theories of self and will, experiments on action and awareness, altered states of consciousness, and the effects of brain damage and drugs."--Publisher's description.… (more) |
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Wikipedia in English (1)
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Blackmore ultimately turns to the "eliminative materialist" position, according to which self-consciousness is a self-deception, and ought to be dismissed as such. This may not be very satisfactory to many, but she does give a discussion overall that is adequate to show why some philosophers have become eliminativist, if only out of frustration.
A nice, concise, introduction to a very deep issue. (I read the Kindle version of this book.) (