Consciousness: The Science of Subjectivity

ISBN-13: 9781841697253 / Angielski / Twarda / 2009 / 324 str.

Antti Revonsuo

Opis

Consciousness is recognized as one of the biggest remaining challenges to the scientific community. This book provides a fascinating introduction to the scientific study of consciousness and to the new science that promises to illuminate our understanding of consciousness: subjective experience, feeling, sensation, and thinking.

Consciousness – The Science of Subjective Experience covers all the main approaches to the modern scientific study of consciousness and also gives the necessary background to understand the philosophical and scientific problems involved. Current scientific evidence and theory from the fields of neuropsychology, cognitive neuroscience and the study of altered sates of consciousness such as dreaming and meditation is presented. The book provides an integrative review of these major existing theories and identifies the most promising approaches to the future explanation of consciousness.

Consciousness – The Science of Subjective Experience offers a readable and timely introduction to the science of consciousness for anyone, especially undergraduates studying psychology, philosophy, cognition, neuroscience, and related fields.

Spis treści

Part 1. Background of the Science of Consciousness. Introduction: Consciousness and Its Place in the Scientific View of the World. 1. The Philosophical Foundations of Consciousness Science. 2. The Historical Foundations of Consciousness Science. 3. The Conceptual Foundations of Consciousness Science. Part 2. Central Domains of Consciousness Science I: Neuropsychology and Consciousness. 4. Neuropsychological Deficits of Visual Consciousness.  5. Neuropsychological Dissociations of Visual Consciousness from Behaviour. 6. Neuropsychological Disorders of Self-Awareness. Part 3. Central Domains of Consciousness Science II: Neural Correlates of Consciousness (NCC). 7. Methods and Design of NCC Experiments. 8. Studies on the Neural Basis of Consciousness as a State. 9. Studies on the Neural Basis of Visual Consciousness. Part 4. Central Domains of Consciousness Science III: Theories of Consciousness. 10. Philosophical Theories of Consciousness. 11. Empirical Theories of Consciousness. Part 5. Central Domains of Consciousness Science IV: Altered States of Consciousness.  12. What is an "Altered State of Consciousness" (ASC)? 13. Dreaming and Sleep. 14. Hypnosis.  15. Higher States of Consciousness. 16. Epilogue: Reflections on the Science of Subjective Experience. 

O autorze

Antti Revonsuo is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Skövde, Sweden, and Professor of Psychology at the University of Turku, Finland. He has been conducting research on consciousness since the early 1990s and has directed an undergraduate degree programme on consciousness studies since 1997. He is best known for his evolutionary–psychological theory of dreaming, the threat-simulation theory.