Flanagan: Consciousness Reconsidered (cloth) (Bradford Books) - Hardcover

Flanagan, Owen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262061481 ISBN 13: 9780262061483

Publisher: MIT Press, 1992

Synopsis

Consciousness is neither miraculous nor ultimately mysterious. In this account Owen Flanagan argues that we are on the way to understanding consciousness and its place in the natural order. No aspect of consciousness escapes Flanagan's probe. Qualia, self-consciousness, autobiographical memory, perceptions, sensations, the stream of consciousness, disorders such as blindsight, various kinds of amnesia, and multiple personality all find a place in a constructive theory that brings into reflective equilibrium insights from a wide array of disciplines to reveal the structure of consciousness. Flanagan roams through a variety of scientific and philosophical domains, showing how it is possible to understand human consciousness in a way that gives its subjective, phenomenal aspects their full due while at the same time taking into account the neural bases of subjectivity. The result is a synthetic theory of consciousness, a "constructive naturalism", according to which subjective consciousness is real, plays an important causal role and resides in the brain. Flanagan draws the reader into current debates among such philosophers as Thomas Nagel, Daniel Dennett, Paul Churchland, Patricia Churchland, and Colin McGinn, and he makes this world accessible. He weaves the latest insights from theory and research in cognitive neuroscience, neural darwinism, connectionist brain architecture, and PET scanners to reveal links between events that "seem a certain way" and underlying neural activity. William James's famous phenomenological analysis of consciousness and neurologically impaired characters from the writings of Oliver Sacks and A.R. Luria join the narrative, providing insights into important controversies on the relation of consciousness to self.

About this title

Review

- George Graham, Professor of Philosophy, University of Alabama, Birmingham This is a marvelous book. Its central claim is that within a broadly conceived naturalism there can be a coherent, probing, insightful theory of consciousness. Flanagan examines more problems and topics associated with consciousness than any other philosopher since William James!"- George Graham, Professor of Philosophy, University of Alabama, Birmingham

About the Author

Charles Reiss is Professor of Linguistics at Concordia University.

Edition details

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262061481
• ISBN 13: 9780262061483
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 250