How to Solve the Mind-Body Problem / Edition 1

by Nicholas Humphrey

Overview

The mind is the brain. Each mental state — each hope, fear, thought — can be identified with a particular physical state of the brain, without remainder. So argues Nicholas Humphrey in this highly readable yet scholarly essay. He offers strong support for his "identity theory" from evolution. His controversial claim is discussed and challenged in commentaries by authors such as Andy Clark ( Being There , 1997), Daniel Dennett ( Consciousness Explained , 1991; Darwin's Dangerous Idea , 1995) and Ralph Ellis ( Questioning Consciousness , 1995). Humphrey rounds off the book with a response to his critics. An excellent short introduction to the mind-body problem and the study of consciousness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780907845089
Publisher:	Imprint Academic
Publication date:	05/28/2000
Series:	Journal of Consciousness Studies Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Nicholas Humphrey is author of the widely-read A History of the Mind (1992) and other books including Consciousness Regained and Soul-Searching . He is senior research fellow in evolutionary psychology at the London School of Economics.

What People are Saying About This

Natika Newton

Humphrey's article contains some profound insights... It has the potential to bridge the explanatory gap; no competing theory comes close.

Andy Clark

I believe Humphrey's careful and progressive story, once insulated from the threat of circularity, holds out the hope of real progress in an argumentative arena depressingly close to a stalemate.

Robert van Gulick

Humphrey's article is full of intriguing and original suggestions, pointing out new directions for investigation and probing deep beneath the surface.

Carol Rovane

Humphrey's account of the position of qualia in mental life is the most promising and fertile I have seen. I am especially impressed by his pivotal idea that sensation is itself a species of affect-laden intentional activity. This is a genuinely new idea with enormous appeal and explanatory potential, the full measure of which I suspect not even he has taken.

Editorial Reviews

"... Humphrey's 'efferent-activity-that-I-am-aware-of' theory of consciousness and his resulting solution to the mind-body problem presents readers with a myriad of important issues in consciousness..."

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

"'Humphrey presents his theory here in a coherent, easy to follow, self-contained way... [S]ets out some interesting new avenues of investigation."

Metapsychology

"This totally engaging book not so much challenges current views on this most ancient of problem than cogently argues for its definition."

Human Nature Review

"Coherent, readable and self-contained."

Philosophical Writings