Conversations on Consciousness: Interviews with Twenty Minds

by SusanBlackmore (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2005

  $8.43

  This is a delightful collection of interviews with 20 famous names in the study of consciousness. Sue Blackmore, herself a writer on consciousness, engages in conversation with each of these very different personalities, drawing out their views on the nature of the mind, on how what goes on in the network of neurons in the brain produces our vivid experiences, and whether we have free will. The collection includes interviews with such well-known names as Daniel Dennett, John Searle, David Chalmers, Francis Crick (the last interview he gave), V. Ramachandran, Roger Penrose, Richard Gregory, and Susan Greenfield. The interviews are conducted in an informal but focused style, bringing out the personality of each interviewee, and giving the reader a very accessible and readable introduction to their ideas, and to the central scientific and philosophical challenges involved in understanding the nature of mind and consciousness.

• New

  Paperback
  2006

  $14.54

  Conversations on Consciousness is just that - a series of twenty lively and challenging conversations between Sue Blackmore and some of the world's leading philosophers and scientists. Written in a colloquial and engaging style the book records the conversations Sue had when she met these influential thinkers, whether at conferences in Arizona or Antwerp, or in their labs or homes in Oxford or San Diego. The conversations bring out their very different personalities and styles and reveal a wealth of fascinating detail about their theories and beliefs. Why is consciousness such a special and difficult issue for twenty-first century science? Sue, herself a researcher into this controversial and difficult topic, begins by asking each of her colleagues this simple question and is immediately plunged into the depths of the debate: How do the subjective experiences we call consciousness arise from the physical brain? Is this even the right question to ask? Can zombies - people who behave outwardly just like others but have no inner mental life - exist? What can dreams tell us about consciousness? Should we all be learning to meditate? Do we have free will, and if not is it possible to live without it? With an introduction setting out the broad structure of the debate on consciousness, and an extensive glossary, this book provides an engaging and accessible account of the most challenging problem of all, through the words of some of the leading figures involved in seeking to solve it.