The Crucible of Consciousness: An Integrated Theory of Mind and Brain (Paperback) By (author) Zoltan Torey, Foreword by Daniel C. Dennett

Full bibliographic data for The Crucible of Consciousness

Title

The Crucible of Consciousness

Subtitle

An Integrated Theory of Mind and Brain

Authors and contributors

By (author) Zoltan Torey, Foreword by Daniel C. Dennett

Physical properties

Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 264
Width: 152 mm
Height: 229 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight: 363 g

Audience

College/higher education
General/trade
Professional and scholarly

Language

English

ISBN

ISBN 13: 9780262512848
ISBN 10: 026251284X

Classifications

BISAC category code: PHI015000
BISAC category code: PHI013000
Dewey: 153
Nielsen BookScan Product Class: S2.1
BISAC category code: MED056000
BISAC category code: PSY008000

Edition statement

Reprint

Illustrations note

2 figures

Publisher

MIT Press Ltd

Imprint name

MIT Press

Publication date

30 June 2009

Publication City/Country

Cambridge, Mass./US

Main description

We are material beings in a material world, but we are also beings who haveexperiences and feelings. How can these subjective states be just a matter of matter? Philosophicalmaterialists have formulated what is sometimes called "the phenomenal concept strategy"(which holds that we possess a range of special concepts for classifying the subjective aspects ofour experiences) to defend materialism. In Consciousness Revisited, philosopher Michael Tye, untilnow a proponent of the approach, argues that the phenomenal concept strategy is mistaken. Arejection of phenomenal concepts leaves the materialist with the task of finding some other strategyfor defending materialism. Tye points to four major puzzles of consciousness that arise: How is itpossible for Mary, in the famous thought experiment, to make a discovery when she leaves herblack-and-white room? In what does the explanatory gap consist and how can it be bridged? How canthe hard problem of consciousness be solved? How are zombies possible? Tye presents solutions tothese puzzles--solutions that relieve the pressure on the materialist created by the failure of thephenomenal concept strategy. In doing so, he discusses and makes new proposals on a wide range ofissues, including the nature of perceptual content, the conditions necessary for consciousness of agiven object, the proper understanding of change blindness, the nature of phenomenal character andour awareness of it, whether we have privileged access to our own experiences, and, if we do, inwhat such access consists.

Biographical note

Zoltan Torey is a clinical psychologist and an independent scholar. Daniel C. Dennett is University Professor and Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. He is the author of Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness (MIT Press) and other books.

Promotional headline

"The world view of the blind and that of the sighted is likely different, shaped by the distinct perceptual experience and the brain plasticity involved in adaptation to the loss of sight. Zoltan Torey is blind. I cannot but believe that this fact has endowed him with the needed vision to address the complex relation between brain and mind. Zoltan Torey writes with the needed eloquence, freshness, and originality that assures readers will be moved to think, and will understand not only what is being said, but also gain new insights about themselves and others."-Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, and Director, Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center "Torey's way of putting things sheds new light on just what is going on in the 'computational' brain, since he has to find alternative metaphors to stand in for the now somewhat overworked comparison with computers. Just as poets often find that the constraints of rhyme and meter force them to discover strikingly apt expressions of their thoughts, it turns out that couching a computational theory of the mind in resolutely noncomputational terms pays dividends. There is much to repay readers in this book: to the uninitiated, it is a graceful and wise introduction to many of the central problems and arguments; to the veterans, it is a quite bountiful source of arrestingly different slants on familiar topics."--Daniel C. Dennett, Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies, Tufts University and author of Sweet Dreams -- Daniel C. Dennet

Review quote

"The world view of the blind and that of the sighted is likely different, shaped by the distinct perceptual experience and the brain plasticity involved in adaptation to the loss of sight. Zoltan Torey is blind. I cannot but believe that this fact has endowed him with the needed vision to address the complex relation between brain and mind. Zoltan Torey writes with the needed eloquence, freshness, and originality that assures readers will be moved to think, and will understand not only what is being said, but also gain new insights about themselves and others."-Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, and Director, Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center "Torey's way of putting things sheds new light on just what is going on in the 'computational' brain, since he has to find alternative metaphors to stand in for the now somewhat overworked comparison with computers. Just as poets often find that the constraints of rhyme and meter force them to discover strikingly apt expressions of their thoughts, it turns out that couching a computational theory of the mind in resolutely noncomputational terms pays dividends. There is much to repay readers in this book: to the uninitiated, it is a graceful and wise introduction to many of the central problems and arguments; to the veterans, it is a quite bountiful source of arrestingly different slants on familiar topics."--Daniel C. Dennett, Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies, Tufts University and author of Sweet Dreams -- Daniel C. Dennet