Overview
- Provides an interdisciplinary historical background to consciousness research
- Provides a broad naturalistic account compatible with spiritual and mysterianist views
- Covers brain biology and neuroscience research
- Capitalizes on visual illustrations of core concepts
- Contains study questions for individual reflection
Part of the book series: Studies in Neuroscience, Consciousness and Spirituality (SNCS, volume 6)
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About this book
This volume offers an introduction to consciousness research within philosophy, psychology and neuroscience, from a philosophical perspective and with an emphasis on the history of ideas and core concepts. The book begins by examining consciousness as a modern mystery. Thereafter, the book introduces philosophy of mind and the mind-body problem, and proceeds to explore psychological, philosophical and neuroscientific approaches to mind and consciousness. The book then presents a discussion of mysterianist views of consciousness in response to what can be perceived as insurmountable scientific challenges to the problem of consciousness. As a response to mysterianist views, the next chapters examine radical approaches to rethinking the problem of consciousness, including externalist approaches. The final two chapters present the author’s personal view of the problem of consciousness.
Consciousness remains a mystery for contemporary science—a mystery raising many questions.Why does consciousness persist as a mystery? Are we humans not intelligent enough to solve the riddle of consciousness? If we can solve this mystery, what would it take? What research would we need to conduct? Moreover, the mystery of consciousness prompts the larger question of how well the cognitive sciences have actually advanced our understanding of ourselves as human beings. After all, consciousness is not just a minor part of our existence. Without consciousness, we would not be human beings at all.
This book aims to increase the accessibility of major ideas in the field of consciousness research and to inspire readers to contribute to the ongoing discussion of the place of consciousness in nature.
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Keywords
- Biological approaches to consciousness
- Causal theories of consciousness
- Critical views of cognitive science
- Interdisciplinary approaches to consciousness
- Metaphysics of consciounsess
- Mysterianism and consciousness
- Neuroscience and consciousness
- Non-representational consciousness
- Spirituality and consciousness
- Visual introduction to consciousness
Table of contents (10 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Anders Hedman is Associate Professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. He has been a Fellow in the department of Philosophy at UC Berkeley and worked as a National Expert for the European Commission in the unit of Future and Emerging Technologies Open, specializing in the cross-section of information and communication technologies, neuroscience and philosophy. He received his BA in Philosophy & Psychology from UC Berkeley and his PhD in human-computer interaction from KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Consciousness from a Broad Perspective
Book Subtitle: A Philosophical and Interdisciplinary Introduction
Authors: Anders Hedman
Series Title: Studies in Neuroscience, Consciousness and Spirituality
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52975-2
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and Psychology, Behavioral Science and Psychology (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing AG 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-52973-8Published: 01 June 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-85028-3Published: 12 August 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-52975-2Published: 23 May 2017
Series ISSN: 2211-8918
Series E-ISSN: 2211-8926
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIV, 285
Number of Illustrations: 74 b/w illustrations
Topics: Philosophy of Mind, Neuropsychology, Metaphysics, Cognitive Psychology