Feeling and Knowing: Making Minds Conscious

Description

In recent decades, many philosophers and cognitive scientists have declared the question of consciousness unsolvable, but Antonio Damasio is convinced that recent findings in neuroscience, psychology and artifical intelligence have given us the necessary tools to solve its mystery. In Feeling & Knowing, Damasio elucidates the myriad aspects of consciousness and presents his analysis and new insights in a way that is faithful to our own intuitive sense of the experience. In forty-eight brief chapters, Damasio helps us understand the relation between consciousness and the mind; why being conscious is not the same as either being awake or sensing; the central role of feeling; and why the brain is essential for the development of consciousness. He synthesises the recent findings of various sciences with the philosophy of consciousness, and, most significantly, presents his original research which has transformed our understanding of the brain and human behaviour. Here is an indispensable guide to understanding the fundamental human capacity for informing and transforming our experience of the world around us and our perception of our place in it.

ANTONIO DAMASIO is the David Dornsife Chair in Neuroscience, and professor of psychology, neurology and philosophy at USC, where he heads the Brain and Creativity Institute. His influential research has centred on the important role of emotion in social cognition.

'A poetic and profound guide to the enigma of consciousness and the evolution of the mind. Antonio Damasio is not only one of the deepest thinkers in neuroscience, but one of its most eloquent communicators. Feeling and Knowing is a truly awe-inspiring piece of writing' David Robson, author of The Intelligence Trap '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: 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