Biophysics of Consciousness : A Foundational Approach

"The compelling argument put forward in this book is that without consciousness, the electrochemical signals that originate in the brain would not be able to function in the way they do -- like a human would experience in comprehending the world subjectively."

A S Bazyan, DSc, PhD
Head of Neurochemical Mechanisms of Learning and Memory Lab
Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology
Russian Academy of Sciences

"First book to go beyond a merely neural to an urgently needed truly biophysical and henceforth natural basis of consciousness."

Georg Northoff, MD, PhD, FRCPC
Canada Research Chair in Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics
ELJB-CIHR Michael Smith Chair in Neurosciences and Mental Health
University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research
Author of Unlocking the Brain, Vol. 1 Coding, Vol. 2 Consciousness

"The authors have done what philosophers were unable to do -- to lay the groundwork for a fundamental theory of brain-based consciousness."

Michael J Spivey, PhD
Professor of Cognitive Science, University of California, Merced
Author of The Continuity of Mind

The problem of how the brain produces consciousness, subjectivity and "something it is like to be" remains one of the greatest challenges to a complete science of the natural world. While various scientists and philosophers approach the problem from their own unique perspectives and in the terms of their own respective fields, Biophysics of Consciousness: A Foundational Approach attempts a consilience across disparate disciplines to explain how it is possible that an objective brain produces subjective experience.

This volume unites the crème de la crème of physicists, neuroscientists, and psychiatrists in the attempt to understand consciousness through a foundational approach encompassing ontological, evolutionary, neurobiological, and Freudian interpretations with the focus on conscious phenomena occurring in the brain. By integrating the perspectives of these diverse disciplines with the latest research and theories on the biophysics of the brain, the book tries to explain how consciousness can be an adaptive and causal element in the natural world.

The problem of how the brain produces consciousness, subjectivity and "something it is like to be" remains one of the greatest challenges to a complete science of the natural world. While various scientists and philosophers approach the problem from their own unique perspectives and in the terms of their own respective fields, Biophysics of Consciousness: A Foundational Approach attempts a consilience across disparate disciplines to explain how it is possible that an objective brain produces subjective experience.

This volume unites the cr me de la cr me of physicists, neuroscientists, and psychiatrists in the attempt to understand consciousness through a foundational approach encompassing ontological, evolutionary, neurobiological, and Freudian interpretations with the focus on conscious phenomena occurring in the brain. By integrating the perspectives of these diverse disciplines with the latest research and theories on the biophysics of the brain, the book tries to explain how what John Searle calls a "conscious field" can be an adaptive and causal element in the natural world.