From one of the world's leading neuroscientists-a succinct, illuminating, wholly engaging investigation of the phenomenon of consciousness and its relation to life
Before We Begin . . . 1
I. On Being . . . 11
In the Beginning Was Not the Word · The Purpose of Life · The
Embarrassment of Viruses · Brains and Bodies · Nervous Systems as
Afterthoughts of Nature · On Being, Feeling, and Knowing · A
Calendar of Life
II. About Minds and the New Art of Representation . . . 33
Intelligence, Minds, and Consciousness · Sensing Is Not the Same as
Being Conscious and Does Not Require a Mind · The Contents of Minds
· Unminded Intelligence · The Making of Mental Imagery · Turning
Neural Activity into Movement and Mind · Fabricating Minds · The
Minds of Plants and the Wisdom of Prince Charles · Algorithms in
the Kitchen
III. On Feelings . . . 69
The Beginnings of Feeling: Setting the Stage · Affect · Biological
Efficiency and the Origin of Feelings · Grounding Feelings I ·
Grounding Feelings II · Grounding Feelings III · Grounding Feelings
IV · Grounding Feelings V · Grounding Feelings VI · Grounding
Feelings VII · Homeostatic Feelings in a Sociocultural Setting ·
But This Feeling Isn’t Purely Mental
IV. On Consciousness and Knowing . . . 111
Why Consciousness? Why Now? · Natural Consciousness · The Problem
of Consciousness · What Is Consciousness For? · Mind and
Consciousness Are Not Synonymous · Being Conscious Is Not the Same
as Being Awake · Consciousness (De)Constructed · Extended
Consciousness · With Ease, and You Beside · The Real Wonder of
Feelings · The Priority of the World Within · A Gathering of
Knowledge · Integration Is Not the Source of Consciousness ·
Consciousness and Attention · The Substrate Counts · Loss of
Consciousness · The Cerebral Cortices and the Brain Stem in the
Making of Consciousness · Feeling Machines and Conscious
Machines
V. In All Fairness: An Epilogue . . . 185
Notes and References . . . 195
Other Readings . . . 215
Acknowledgments . . . 217
Index . . . 221
ANTONIO DAMASIO is the David Dornsife Chair in Neuroscience and professor of psychology, neurology and philosophy at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, where he heads the Brain and Creativity Institute.
“Here the master scientist unites with the silken prose-stylist to
produce one thrilling insight after another . . . Damasio has
succeeded brilliantly in narrowing the gap between body and
mind.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“Damasio’s concise, precise, and lucid prose effectively convey the
core insight he has distilled over decades (2): that
affect—encompassing, emotions, feelings, motivations, and moods—is
central to understanding what we do, how we think, and who we
are.”
—Science
“Damasio writes lucid prose clearly addressed to a popular
audience. Even better, the book is concise and helpfully divided
into dozens of short chapters, many only one or two pages. Make no
mistake, however; Damasio is a deep thinker familiar with multiple
disciplines, and this is as much a work of philosophy as hard
science. Readers familiar with college level psychology and
neuroscience will discover rewarding insights.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“So much of what novelists and poets write about touches on the
centrality of feeling, especially on the polar opposites of feeling
joy or suffering. I think great books, and movies too, touch on
humanity so deeply. Their topics are the ones I chose for my
research.”
—The Boston Globe
“There is something seductive about the succinct, almost literary,
chapters and Damasio’s unabashed wonder at and reverence for the
concept of consciousness—although he believes it can be explained
using the disciplines known to us, he is no less in awe of its
mechanisms. It is clear, for example, that Damasio holds in
reverence the fact that our bodies can both experience feelings and
modify those feelings within the same vessel. And often, this awe
shines through in charming, allusive, whimsical sentences.”
—Undark
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