Towards a Deeper Understanding of Consciousness

In the World Library of Psychologists series, international experts themselves present career-long collections of what they judge to be their finest pieces - extracts from books, key articles, salient research findings, and their major practical theoretical contributions. With continuing contemporary relevance, and significant historical

Autorentext

Max Velmans is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK.

Klappentext

In the World Library of Psychologists series, international experts themselves present career-long collections of what they judge to be their finest pieces - extracts from books, key articles, salient research findings, and their major practical theoretical contributions. In this volume Max Velmans reflects on his long-spanning and varied career, considers the highs and lows in a brand new introduction and offers reactions to those who have responded to his published work over the years. This book offers a unique and compelling collection of the best publications in consciousness studies from one of the few psychologists to treat the topic systematically and seriously. Velmans' approach is multi-faceted and represents a convergence of numerous fields of study - culminating in fascinating insights that are of interest to philosopher, psychologist and neuroscientist alike. With continuing contemporary relevance, and significant historical impact, this collection of works is an essential resource for all those engaged or interested in the field of consciousness studies and the philosophy of the mind.

Inhalt

Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. How To Define ConsciousnessAnd How Not To Define Consciousness 3. Consciousness, brain and the physical world 4. An epistemology for the study of consciousness 5. Reflexive Monism: psychophysical relations among mind, matter and consciousness 6. Extracts from "Is Human Information Processing Conscious?" 7. Extracts from "Consciousness from a First-person perspective" 8. How could conscious experiences affect brains? 9. Conscious Agency and the Preconscious/Unconscious Self 10. The evolution of consciousness 11. How to Arrive at an Eastern Place from a Western Direction: Convergences and Divergences among Samkya Dualism, Advaita Nondualism, the Body-Mind-Consciousness Trident Model and Reflexive Monism Index