Friday, February 28, 2014

Omnivore - What Neuroscience Is Learning

From Bookforum's Omnivore blog, this is cool collection of links related to mind and consciousness, including several pieces on free will.

One of the highlights of this collection is a review by John Jeffery and Todd K. Shackelford (from Evolutionary Psychology, 2013. 11(5): 1077-1083) of Daniel C. Dennett’s Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking and Nicholas Humphrey’s Soul Dust: The Magic of Consciousness. Here is part of the review:
Humphrey, like Dennett, dispels the more romantic notions of consciousness as the gift of a spirit, but he cleverly reappropriates the terminology of spirituality to align with a scientific vision of consciousness. Both he and Dennett employ tactical vocabularies, wishing to make their arguments more appetizing to a general audience and, in Dennett’s case for compatibilism, safe for consumption. Most importantly, Soul Dust and Intuition Pumps work to collapse the irresistible assumption that we live in a phenomenological reality outside of our biology, while simultaneously celebrating and elevating its significance.
Enjoy the other links, as well.

What neuroscience is learning

Feb 27 2014  
9:00AM

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