Preface Acknowledgements Part I: The Enactive Approach 1. Cognitive Science and Human Experience 2. The Phenomenological Connection 3. Autonomy and Emergence 4. The Structure of Behavior Part II: Life in Mind 5. Autopoiesis: The Organization of the Living 6. Life and Mind: The Philosophy of the Organism 7. Laying Down a Path in Walking: Development and Evolution Part III: Consciousness in Life 8. Life Beyond the Gap 9. Sensorimotor Subjectivity 10. Look Again: Consciousness and Mental Imagery 11. Temporality and the Living Present 12. Primordial Dynamism: Emotion and Valence 13. Empathy and Enculturation Appendix 1: Husserl and Cognitive Science Appendix 2: Emergence and the Problem of Downward Causation References
The overarching topic of Thompson's book is nothing less than the nature of life and mind, where life and mind are conceived not as they often are--that is, as fundamentally separate subjects in need of largely nonintersecting theoretical frameworks--but rather as tightly intertwined phenomena in need of a common explanatory language. The long-anticipated follow-up to The Embodied Mind, this book is even better--clear, lively, original, and compelling. Mind in Life is a work for which a great number of thinkers in philosophy of mind and the cognitive sciences have been eagerly waiting. -- Michael Wheeler, author of Reconstructing the Cognitive World: The Next Step Evan Thompson has emerged as a major presence in the science of the mind. His new book is quite wonderful to read, and I found it impossible to put down. In particular, his discussion of Husserl's phenomenology is a revelation, as are his reasons for reversing his former criticisms of Husserl. His discussion of one of the central issues driving modern cognitive neuroscience, the binding problem, is particularly valuable and should compel a major reexamination of experiments being carried out in this field. Evan Thompson is doing important work in re-framing the very questions that define cognitive science. -- Merlin Donald, Case Western Reserve University There is no deeper prison of the modern mind than the Cartesian legacy that splits mind from life, and no more arduous climb to escape. Thompson provides a topo map--rich, multifaceted, superbly documented--by detailing the work of the many (but relatively few among contemporary scientists and philosophers) who recognize the impasse and strive to transcend it. -- Walter J. Freeman, author of How Brains Make Up Their Minds Neurophenomenology is the majestic method we naturalists have been seeking to blend experience, behavior, and the brain. This long-awaited book will open up the discussion of what experience is and where it is, and how we explain the connection between the objective world of physical activity and that of pain, love, and imagining. Thompson enacts the method he espouses, neurophenomenology, in each chapter with in-depth examples that mind scientists will find compelling. A tour de force! -- Owen Flanagan Is Mind continuous with Life? Can better phenomenology improve our scientific understanding of consciousness and cognition? In this elegant and thought-provoking treatment, Evan Thompson explores a vision of mind and life that traces a path from simple cellular organizations all the way to consciousness, intersubjectivity, and culture. A wonderful and important journey, and a compulsory trip for all those interested in the explanation of mind and experience. -- Andy Clark, author of Being There: Putting Brain, Body and World Together Again Though modesty prevents him from claiming an original theory or dramatic new synthesis, in Mind in Life, one of the world's top philosophers offers a brilliant and inspired treatise into the so-called "explanatory gap" between life and mind, nature and consciousness. Thompson stands apart in his ability to link objective descriptions of life and mind with our subjective experience of them. Here he weaves the phenomenological analysis of experience and the latest developments in the fields of cognitive science, neuroscience and biology into a rich coordinated whole in which life and mind are seen to be intrinsically and essentially dynamic and self-organizing. Curious people who want to appreciate this hard won insight and better understand the deep continuity of life and mind will want to read this unique and illuminating book. -- J.A. Scott Kelso, author of Dynamic Patterns: the Self-Organization of Brain and Behavior and (with David A. Engstrom) co-author of The Complementary Nature
Evan Thompson is Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia.
The aim of Evan Thompson’s Mind in Life is to suggest a new way
forward in the long-running attempt to connect biological knowledge
about how body and brain work with our phenomenological experience
of life. The book is an impressive work of synthesis, drawing
together an array of themes in biology, neuroscience, cognitive
science, phenomenology, and consciousness studies… This is a highly
impressive work, of considerable scope, importance, and
originality. The book is not, nor does it claim to be, an easy read
for a general audience: the fields of consciousness studies and
phenomenology are replete with necessary jargon, and Mind in Life
builds on decades of discovery and debate. On the other hand, the
argument is accessible to nonspecialists willing to take the time,
for Thompson presents complex ideas with commendable fluency. For
philosophers of biology, as for cognitive scientists and
philosophers of mind, Mind in Life is sure to become essential
reading.
*Isis*
I think this book deserves close study, since it offers a holistic
and dynamic perspective on how life and mind interact and how mind,
body, and world form an inseparable unity… Thompson has written a
book that for philosophers may give a new incentive to rethink and
reconceptualize our place in the world that surpasses dualistic
thinking. If that was the purpose of the book, it has
succeeded.
*Metapsychology*
The book is a tremendous success and amounts to a superior
contribution to recent and current debates in the philosophy of
mind. Thompson displays a deeply impressive grasp of the relevant
literature across a range of disciplines, including biology,
phenomenology, psychology and neuroscience. Not only has he read
widely, he has an admirable intellectual independence, and is
confident of the arguments he wants to demonstrate and the
direction he wants the sciences of the mind to take… One of the
richest contributions to the study of ‘mind in life’ in recent
years. It deserves to become a major work of reference and
inspiration for research in the immediate future and, indeed, for
many years to come. It provides a genuine and far-reaching
clarification of core issues in the philosophy and science of the
mind, and is to be greatly welcomed.
*Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences*
Evan Thompson has emerged as a major presence in the science of the
mind. His new book is quite wonderful to read, and I found it
impossible to put down. In particular, his discussion of Husserl’s
phenomenology is a revelation, as are his reasons for reversing his
former criticisms of Husserl. His discussion of one of the central
issues driving modern cognitive neuroscience, the binding problem,
is particularly valuable and should compel a major reexamination of
experiments being carried out in this field. Evan Thompson is doing
important work in re-framing the very questions that define
cognitive science.
*Merlin Donald, Case Western Reserve University*
There is no deeper prison of the modern mind than the Cartesian
legacy that splits mind from life, and no more arduous climb to
escape. Thompson provides a topo map—rich, multifaceted, superbly
documented—by detailing the work of the many (but relatively few
among contemporary scientists and philosophers) who recognize the
impasse and strive to transcend it.
*Walter J. Freeman, author of How Brains Make Up Their
Minds*
Neurophenomenology is the majestic method we naturalists have been
seeking to blend experience, behavior, and the brain. This
long-awaited book will open up the discussion of what experience is
and where it is, and how we explain the connection between the
objective world of physical activity and that of pain, love, and
imagining. Thompson enacts the method he espouses,
neurophenomenology, in each chapter with in-depth examples that
mind scientists will find compelling. A tour de force!
*Owen Flanagan, author of The Problem of the Soul: Two Visions
of Mind and How to Reconcile Them*
Is Mind continuous with Life? Can better phenomenology improve our
scientific understanding of consciousness and cognition? In this
elegant and thought-provoking treatment, Evan Thompson explores a
vision of mind and life that traces a path from simple cellular
organizations all the way to consciousness, intersubjectivity, and
culture. A wonderful and important journey, and a compulsory trip
for all those interested in the explanation of mind and
experience.
*Andy Clark, author of Being There: Putting Brain, Body and
World Together Again*
Though modesty prevents him from claiming an original theory or
dramatic new synthesis, in Mind in Life, one of the world’s top
philosophers offers a brilliant and inspired treatise into the
so-called ‘explanatory gap’ between life and mind, nature and
consciousness. Thompson stands apart in his ability to link
objective descriptions of life and mind with our subjective
experience of them. Here he weaves the phenomenological analysis of
experience and the latest developments in the fields of cognitive
science, neuroscience and biology into a rich coordinated whole in
which life and mind are seen to be intrinsically and essentially
dynamic and self-organizing. Curious people who want to appreciate
this hard won insight and better understand the deep continuity of
life and mind will want to read this unique and illuminating
book.
*J. A. Scott Kelso, author of Dynamic Patterns: The
Self-Organization of Brain and Behavior and (with David A.
Engstrom) coauthor of The Complementary Nature*
The overarching topic of Thompson’s book is nothing less than the
nature of life and mind, where life and mind are conceived not as
they often are—that is, as fundamentally separate subjects in need
of largely nonintersecting theoretical frameworks—but rather as
tightly intertwined phenomena in need of a common explanatory
language. The long-anticipated follow-up to The Embodied Mind, this
book is even better—clear, lively, original, and compelling. Mind
in Life is a work for which a great number of thinkers in
philosophy of mind and the cognitive sciences have been eagerly
waiting.
*Michael Wheeler, author of Reconstructing the Cognitive World:
The Next Step*
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