Seeing Red: A Study in Consciousness (Mind/Brain/Behaviour Initiative) (Mind/Brain/Behavior Initiative)

New
Paperback
2008
$33.43

Consciousness matters. Arguably it matters more than anything. The purpose of this book is to build towards an explanation of just what the matter is. Nicholas Humphrey begins this compelling exploration of the biggest of big questions with a challenge to the reader, and himself. What's involved in seeing red ? What is it like for us to see someone else seeing something red? Seeing a red screen tells us a fact about something in the world. But it also creates a new fact--a sensation in each of our minds, the feeling of redness. And that's the mystery. Conventional science so far hasn't told us what conscious sensations are made of, or how we get access to them, or why we have them at all. From an evolutionary perspective, what's the point of consciousness? Humphrey offers a daring and novel solution, arguing that sensationsare not things that happen to us, they are things we do--originating in our primordial ancestors' expressions of liking or disgust. Tracing the evolutionary trajectory through to human beings, he shows how this has led to sensations playing the key role in the human sense of Self. The Self, as we now know it from within, seems to have fascinating other-worldly properties. It leads us to believe in mind-body duality and the existence of a soul. And such beliefs--even if mistaken--can be highly adaptive, because they increase the value we place on our own and others' lives. Consciousness matters, Humphrey concludes with striking paradox, because it is its function to matter. It has been designed to create in human beings a Self whose life is worth pursuing.

Synopsis

Consciousness matters. Arguably it matters more than anything. The purpose of this book is to build towards an explanation of just what the matter is. Nicholas Humphrey begins this compelling exploration of the biggest of big questions with a challenge to the reader, and himself. What's involved in seeing red ? What is it like for us to see someone else seeing something red? Seeing a red screen tells us a fact about something in the world. But it also creates a new fact--a sensation in each of our minds, the feeling of redness. And that's the mystery. Conventional science so far hasn't told us what conscious sensations are made of, or how we get access to them, or why we have them at all. From an evolutionary perspective, what's the point of consciousness? Humphrey offers a daring and novel solution, arguing that sensationsare not things that happen to us, they are things we do--originating in our primordial ancestors' expressions of liking or disgust. Tracing the evolutionary trajectory through to human beings, he shows how this has led to sensations playing the key role in the human sense of Self. The Self, as we now know it from within, seems to have fascinating other-worldly properties. It leads us to believe in mind-body duality and the existence of a soul. And such beliefs--even if mistaken--can be highly adaptive, because they increase the value we place on our own and others' lives. Consciousness matters, Humphrey concludes with striking paradox, because it is its function to matter. It has been designed to create in human beings a Self whose life is worth pursuing.

$33.43

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 31 Oct 2008
ISBN 10: 0674030540
ISBN 13: 9780674030541
Book Overview: Seeing Red is a brief, brilliant, and wonderfully lucid contribution to consciousness studies. By combining empirical scientific method, evolutionary theory, and a sensitive appreciation of the arts, Nicholas Humphrey argues plausibly that the hard problem of consciousness--the difficulty of explaining the connection between the material brain and the phenomenon of individual selfhood--may itself be the answer to a bigger question: what makes us human? -- David Lodge, author of Consciousness and the Novel: Connected Essays This book is a wonderful amalgam of science, philosophy, and art. It is based on deep knowledge of visual processing by the brain and poetic understanding of human experience. This is a remarkable achievement. -- Richard Gregory, Emeritus Professor of Neuropsychology at the University of Bristol and editor of The Oxford Companion to the Mind

Media Reviews

There are few scientists who think so originally, provoke so consistently or write so elegantly as Humphrey. Seeing Red... is a wonderful introduction to his iconoclastic thinking... [It] is less about what consciousness is than about how we might go about thinking about it. And for that there are few better guides than Nicholas Humphrey. - Kenan Malik, Sunday Telegraph It's a delight to read, beautifully clear and concise, while packing lots of good sense... [An] intellectual tour de force... Few contemporary writings on consciousness achieve half as much. - Chris Nunn, New Scientist A most important little book. - John Shand, Times Literary Supplement

Author Bio

Nicholas Humphrey is School Professor in the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science at the London School of Economics.