Reflections on the Problem of Consciousness
The essential and most puzzling problem of consciousness is how the electro-chemical activity constantly occurring in the brain translates into the conscious experience we enjoy. Neither neuro-scientists nor psychologists nor philosophers have so much as
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Reflections on the Problem of Consciousness
Studies in Brain and Mind Volume 3 Series Editors John W. Bickle, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio Kenneth J. Sufka, University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi
Reflections on the Problem of Consciousness by
Errol E. Harris John Evans Professor of Philosophy (Emeritus) Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, U.S.A.
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN-10 ISBN-13 ISBN-10 ISBN-13
1-4020-4309-0 (HB) 978-1-4020-4309-3 (HB) 1-4020-4310-4 (e-book) 978-1-4020-4310-9 (e-book)
Published by Springer, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. www.springeronline.com
Printed on acid-free paper
All Rights Reserved © 2006 Springer No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed in the Netherlands.
CONTENTS
Preface
vii
Chapter I
The Crucial Question - Mind, Brain and Body
Chapter II
Dennett and Descartes
1 21
Chapter III A Natural Method
49
Chapter IV Descartes’ Error and Spinoza’s Truth
63
Chapter V
83
The Dynamic Brain
Chapter VI Guidance from Past Insights
97
Chapter VII The Conditions of Consciousness
111
Chapter VIII Who or What Thinks?
125
Chapter IX Towards a Solution
143
Appendix
The Theory of Emergence and Contemporary Analytic Criticism
165
Select Bibliography
173
Index
183
PREFACE The relation between body and mind has presented philosophy with its perennial problem. It exercised the minds of Plato and Aristotle and it was implicit in the thought, if not always present to the minds, of the Presocratics. In modern philosophy it became explicit in Descartes’s Meditations and remained central to the deliberations of every subsequent philosopher of any significance from Hobbes to Hume, from Spinoza to Hegel, and from Husserl and Heidegger to Russell and Whitehead. From whatever angle one approaches philosophy one cannot avoid this problem. Moral philosophy, both ethical and political, compels one to adopt some conception of human nature, its origins and status within the world, for one cannot decide on the best way to live without considering the impact of natural influences on the human condition and of human behaviour on nature including other humans; and these considerations at once raise the question of the relation of the human mind to Nature and the natural body it enlightens. A philosophy of Nature must include the place of humanity in the natural scheme, not only the human body, but also the knowing mind. Metaphysics cannot be divorced from Epistemology nor can that neglect the part played in the acquisition of knowledge by the bodily senses. And clearly a philosophy of mind must include some vis
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