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Consciousness Explained, Daniel Dennett
A look at how cutting-edge (as of 1991) brain research affects age-old philosophical problems of consciousness. Dennett argues that while no one (except billions of religious people) really believes in mind-body dualism anymore, people still subconsciously cling to the Cartesian idea of a single brain center where everything "comes together". Dennett points out evidence that consciousness is much more fragmented and chaotic than it seems, and the unity of conscious experience is to a large extent an illusion.
There is a lot of fascinating research and insight in this book, but Dennett goes too far when he comes to the conclusion that the objects of conscious experience--qualia, like the taste of food or our experience of color--are illusions that cannot be meaningfully discussed. This has led critics to call the book "Consciousness Ignored" or "Consciousness Explained Away"; it seems that the "hard problem of consciousness" (basically, what the fuck is consciousness) remains unsolved and possibly unsolvable. Still a very valuable book.
A look at how cutting-edge (as of 1991) brain research affects age-old philosophical problems of consciousness. Dennett argues that while no one (except billions of religious people) really believes in mind-body dualism anymore, people still subconsciously cling to the Cartesian idea of a single brain center where everything "comes together". Dennett points out evidence that consciousness is much more fragmented and chaotic than it seems, and the unity of conscious experience is to a large extent an illusion.
There is a lot of fascinating research and insight in this book, but Dennett goes too far when he comes to the conclusion that the objects of conscious experience--qualia, like the taste of food or our experience of color--are illusions that cannot be meaningfully discussed. This has led critics to call the book "Consciousness Ignored" or "Consciousness Explained Away"; it seems that the "hard problem of consciousness" (basically, what the fuck is consciousness) remains unsolved and possibly unsolvable. Still a very valuable book.