Matter Matters?: On the Material Basis of the Cognitive Activity of Mind

ISBN-13: 9783642644597 / Angielski / Miękka / 2013 / 269 str.

Peter Arhem; Hans Liljenstrom; Uno Svedin

Opis

This book, written for a wide readership with some background in the natural sciences, addresses the very old problem of the mind-brain-relationship. The authors, all well-known scientists, approach the subject in different stages. The first part addresses some general principles based on physics, computer science, and theoretical biology. The two following parts deal with the problem at different organizational levels, from the microscopic to the macroscopic. The fourth part addresses the subjective level founded on the findings of psychologists and neurophysiologists.

Spis treści

1. Introduction.- I Some New Perspectives.- 2. The Need for a Non-computational Extension of Quantum Action in the Brain.- 3. The Berry Paradox.- 4. Mind as Phenotype.- II Subcellular Levels.- 5. Quantum Automata in Cytoskeletal Microtubules: A Nanoscale Substrate for Cognition.- 6. Of Maps and Territories: A Three Point Landing on the Mind-Body Problem.- III Network and Systems Level.- 7. Synergetics of the Brain.- 8. Cognition and the Efficiency of Neural Processes.- IV The Subjective Level.- 9. Consciousness and the Matter of Perception.- 10. On Consciousness and Spontaneous Brain Activity.- 11. Concluding Remarks.

Blurb

Distinguished authors from different disciplines analyze the classical mind--matter problem within the frames of recent theoretical and experimental developments in fields such as mathematics, physics, computers and neuroscience. The dramatically increased importance of these areas for the mind--matter issue validates the chosen entry point of the book, the view that matter matters. The authors argue that to shift the focus of interest from the traditional material/immaterial dichotomy to other ways of approaching the issue, notably to what is computational and what is not, will bring the discussion to a more fertile ground than found in traditional treatises. They stress the distinction between conscious and cognitive processes and focuss on the interplay between disciplines, transitions between micro and macro levels, complexity, the role of mathematics, and the meaning of understanding. Radically new tentative solutions are presented, serving as inspiration for new approaches to the study of the mind--matter problem. This book is written for a wide readership with some background in the natural sciences.