
- 208 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
What is the material basis of the thoughts that occur inside our heads?Where do imaginative, creative, or spiritual thoughts come from - can these really be the product of nerve impulses in the brain? And is the human mind radically different from that of other species, or is our uniqueness more superficial than real?In this book, Oxford biologist John Parrington proposes a radical new theory of human consciousness, arguing that a qualitative leap in consciousness occurred during human evolution as language and tool use transformed our brains. Rejecting outdated views of the brain as a hard-wired circuit diagram, he draws on the latest insights from neuroscience to show that meaning is created within our heads through a dynamic interaction of oscillating brain waves.This new model of consciousness not only provides a material basis of our innermost thoughts but also explains why the mind can sometimes go wrong, causing deep mental distress.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- 1. What is Consciousness?
- 2. Tools and Symbols
- 3. Nerves and Brains
- 4. Evolving Minds
- 5. Thought and Reason
- 6. The Sensual World
- 7. Learning and Memory
- 8. Mind Chemistry
- 9. Philosophy of Mind
- 10. Individual and Society
- 11. Information and Meaning
- 12. Chance and Design
- 13. Structure and Function
- 14. Circuits and Waves
- 15. Free Will and Selfhood
- 16. Consciousness and the Unconscious
- 17. Modernity and its Contradictions
- 18. Sanity and Madness
- 19. How Ideas Change
- 20. Future of Mind
- References