Product Description

The mind is the brain. Each mental state - hope, fear and thought - can be identified with a particular physical state of the brain. Or so argues Nicholas Humphrey. In this book he offers support for his "identity theory" from evolution. His claim is discussed and challenged by authors such as Andy Clark, Daniel Dennett and Ralph Ellis, and Humphrey ends the book with a response to his critics. Essentially this is a short introduction to the mind-body problem and the study of consciousness.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #595354 in Books
• Published on: 2000-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 112 pages

Review
Andy Clark A refreshingly progressive recipe for laying wide the doors of sensation Daniel Dennett Humphrey's account leaves open the prospect of a conscious robot Valerie Gray Hardcastle Humphrey has the insight that the ways we describe both our mental states and our brain states are probably wrong Carol Rovane Humphrey's account of the position of qualia in mental life is the most promising and fertile I have seen. I am especially impressed by his pivotal idea that sensation is itself a species of affect-laden intentional activity. This is a genuinely new idea with enormous appeal and explanatory potential, the full measure of which I suspect not even he has taken. Robert van Gilick Humphrey's essay is full of intriguing and original suggestions, pointing out new directions for investigation and probing deep beneath the surface.

Daniel Dennett
Humphrey's account leaves open the prospect of a conscious robot

Valerie Gray Hardcastle
Humphrey has the insight that the ways we describe both our mental states and our brain states are probably wrong

Customer Reviews

Humphrey makes the gap more evident than ever
Humphrey has not offered any qualitatively new ideas in his essay. The incredible leap between what is physically evident in the brain as neural activity, remains as far removed from the flowing conscious exprience and internal "unseen" thoughts and sensations of every person. The gap, indeed, has been shown to be wider than ever. And the so called "hard" problem of consciousness, conscious experience itself, remains untouched is evidently more of a mystery to science than ever before.