Explaining Consciousness

ISBN 10: 0262193884 / ISBN 13: 9780262193887

Published by Bradford Books, 1997

About this Item

Seller Inventory # ABE-1783618221844

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Explaining Consciousness
• Publisher: Bradford Books
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262193884
• ISBN 13: 9780262193887
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: New
• Dimensions: 19.05W x 26.67H x 3.18D centimeters 19.05 centimeters width by 26.67 centimeters height by 3.18 centimeters depth
• Weight: 1111 grams

About this title

Synopsis

At the 1994 landmark conference "Toward a Scientific Basis for Consciousness", philosopher David Chalmers distinguished between the "easy" problems and the "hard" problem of consciousness research. According to Chalmers, the easy problems are to explain cognitive functions such as discrimination, integration, and the control of behavior; the hard problem is to explain why these functions should be associated with phenomenal experience. Why doesnt all this cognitive processing go on "in the dark", without any consciousness at all? In this book, philosophers, physicists, psychologists, neurophysiologists, computer scientists, and others address this central topic in the growing discipline of consciousness studies. Some take issue with Chalmers' distinction, arguing that the hard problem is a non-problem, or that the explanatory gap is too wide to be bridged. Others offer alternative suggestions as to how the problem might be solved, whether through cognitive science, fundamental physics, empirical phenomenology, or with theories that take consciousness as irreducible.

Contributors: Bernard J. Baars, Douglas J. Bilodeau, David Chalmers, Patricia S. Churchland, Thomas Clark, C. J. S. Clarke, Francis Crick, Daniel C. Dennett, Stuart Hameroff, Valerie Hardcastle, David Hodgson, Piet Hut, Christof Koch, Benjamin Libet, E. J. Lowe, Bruce MacLennan, Colin McGinn, Eugene Mills, Kieron OHara, Roger Penrose, Mark C. Price, William S. Robinson, Gregg Rosenberg, Tom Scott, William Seager, Jonathan Shear, Roger N. Shepard, Henry Stapp, Francisco J. Varela, Max Velmans, Richard Warner

About the Author

Jonathan Shear is Affiliate Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University and Managing Editor of Journal of Consciousness Studies.