How Brains Make Up Their Minds (Maps of the Mind) - Hardcover

Freeman, Walter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0231120087 ISBN 13: 9780231120081

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2001

Synopsis

I think, therefore I am. The legendary pronouncement of philosopher Rene Descartes lingers as accepted wisdom in the Western world nearly four centuries after its author's death. But does thought really come first? Who actually runs the show: we, our thoughts, or the neurons firing within our brains? Walter J. Freeman explores how we control our behavior and make sense of the world around us. Avoiding determinism both in sociobiology, which proposes that persons' genes control their brains' functioning, and in neuroscience, which posits that their brains' disposition is molded by chemistry and environmental forces, Freeman charts a new course-one that gives individuals due credit and responsibility for their actions. Drawing upon his five decades of research in neuroscience, Freeman utilizes the latest advances in his field as well as perspectives from disciplines as diverse as mathematics, psychology, and philosophy to explicate how different human brains act in their chosen diverse ways. He clarifies the implications of brain imaging, by which neural activity can be observed during the course of normal movements, and shows how nonlinear dynamics reveals order within the fecund chaos of brain function.

About this title

Review:

Raise your arm. Now: which came first? The raising of your arm, or the decision to raise it? Walter Freeman's admirably articulate and very difficult little book on the biological foundations of consciousness comes up with a surprising answer: action precedes consciousness of action. Consciousness has better things to do than involve itself with simple motor actions; rather, it establishes the parameters within which action occurs by itself. We are not divine homunculi, directing action independent of the physical constraints of cause and effect. But neither are we ghosts in the machine of the body, observing, and taking credit for, actions which are in reality dictated by conditioned responses and blind fate. Minds are like weather systems: at once evanescent and remarkably robust. Freeman's grasp of philosophy is unprecedented among experimental biologists, and he writes at the leading edge of that movement that makes study of the mind the venue for the long-awaited reconciliation of science and the humanities. This book would make a poor introduction to the subject: it is too much part of the ongoing debate, and readers would do better to tuck a few Dennetts, Calvins and Penroses under their belts first. But this caveat takes nothing away from Freeman's contribution or importance, and the book is a fine addition to Steven Rose's "Maps of the Mind" series, which looks to be the most diverse and rigorous science series for many years. --Simon Ings

Review:

A must read for anyone who seriously wants to understand how brains make up their minds.--Stan Franklin "Minds & Machines "

This book takes a significant position that sets the stage for unifying research results in neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy into a cohesive interpretation of the psychological and philosophical aspects of brain activities. Delightful to read, cohesive, and thought-provoking.--Choice

About this edition

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0231120087
• ISBN 13: 9780231120081
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 146