
The Conscious Mind
In Search of a Fundamental Theory
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Narrated by:
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George Cunningham
About this listen
What is consciousness? How do physical processes in the brain give rise to the self-aware mind and to feelings as profoundly varied as love or hate, aesthetic pleasure or spiritual yearning? These questions today are among the most hotly debated issues among scientists and philosophers, and we have seen in recent years superb volumes by such eminent figures as Francis Crick, Daniel C. Dennett, Gerald Edelman, and Roger Penrose, all firing volleys in what has come to be called the consciousness wars. Now, in The Conscious Mind, philosopher David J. Chalmers offers a cogent analysis of this heated debate as he unveils a major new theory of consciousness, one that rejects the prevailing reductionist trend of science, while offering provocative insights into the relationship between mind and brain.
Writing in a rigorous, thought-provoking style, the author takes us on a far-reaching tour through the philosophical ramifications of consciousness. Chalmers convincingly reveals how contemporary cognitive science and neurobiology have failed to explain how and why mental events emerge from physiological occurrences in the brain. He proposes instead that conscious experience must be understood in an entirely new light - as an irreducible entity (similar to such physical properties as time, mass, and space) that exists at a fundamental level and cannot be understood as the sum of its parts. And after suggesting some intriguing possibilities about the structure and laws of conscious experience, he details how his unique reinterpretation of the mind could be the focus of a new science. Throughout the book, Chalmers provides fascinating thought experiments that trenchantly illustrate his ideas. For example, in exploring the notion that consciousness could be experienced by machines as well as humans, Chalmers asks us to imagine a thinking brain in which neurons are slowly replaced by silicon chips that precisely duplicate their functions - as the neurons are replaced, will consciousness gradually fade away? The book also features thoughtful discussions of how the author's theories might be practically applied to subjects as diverse as artificial intelligence and the interpretation of quantum mechanics.
All of us have pondered the nature and meaning of consciousness. Engaging and penetrating, The Conscious Mind adds a fresh new perspective to the subject that is sure to spark debate about our understanding of the mind for years to come.
©1996 David Chalmers (P)2021 Upfront BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
In recent decades, many philosophers and cognitive scientists have declared the problem of consciousness unsolvable, but Antonio Damasio is convinced that recent findings across multiple scientific disciplines have given us a way to understand consciousness and its significance for human life. In Feeling & Knowing, Damasio helps us understand why being conscious is not the same as sensing, why nervous systems are essential for the development of feelings, and why feeling opens the way to consciousness writ large.
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That's it??
- By aaron on 11-13-21
By: Antonio Damasio
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What Is It Like to Be a Bat?
- By: Thomas Nagel
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 1 hr and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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"Consciousness is what makes the mind-body problem really intractable." So begins Thomas Nagel's classic 1974 essay "What is it Like to be a Bat?" Nagel's essay initiated the now widespread attention to consciousness as a central problem for philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience; it also influenced the recognition of the consciousness of nonhuman creatures as an important subject of study.
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I Must Be Incomplet
- By Amazon Customer on 04-12-25
By: Thomas Nagel
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The Conscious Mind
- By: Zoltan Torey
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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How did the human mind emerge from the collection of neurons that makes up the brain? How did the brain acquire self-awareness, functional autonomy, language, and the ability to think, to understand itself and the world? In this volume in the Essential Knowledge series, Zoltan Torey offers an accessible and concise description of the evolutionary breakthrough that created the human mind.
By: Zoltan Torey
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Why Materialism Is Baloney
- How True Skeptics Know There Is No Death and Fathom Answers to Life, the Universe, and Everything
- By: Bernardo Kastrup
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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The present framing of the cultural debate in terms of materialism versus religion has allowed materialism to go unchallenged as the only rationally viable metaphysics. This book seeks to change this. It uncovers the absurd implications of materialism and then, uniquely, presents a hard-nosed non-materialist metaphysics substantiated by skepticism, hard empirical evidence, and clear logical argumentation.
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Finally something "less wrong"!
- By Dayana Hristova on 10-15-21
By: Bernardo Kastrup
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Kinds of Minds
- Toward an Understanding of Consciousness
- By: Daniel C. Dennett
- Narrated by: Daniel Henning
- Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Combining ideas from philosophy, artificial intelligence, and neurobiology, Daniel Dennett leads the listener on a fascinating journey of inquiry, exploring such intriguing possibilities as: Can any of us really know what is going on in someone else's mind? What distinguishes the human mind from the minds of animals, especially those capable of complex behavior? If such animals, for instance, were magically given the power of language, would their communities evolve an intelligence as subtly discriminating as ours?
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Who's in Charge?
- Free Will and the Science of the Brain
- By: Michael S. Gazzaniga
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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The father of cognitive neuroscience and author of Human offers a provocative argument against the common belief that our lives are wholly determined by physical processes and we are therefore not responsible for our actions.
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Use Your Credit On "Who's In Charge"
- By Dan on 04-03-12
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The Consciousness Instinct
- Unraveling the Mystery of How the Brain Makes the Mind
- By: Michael S. Gazzaniga
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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How do neurons turn into minds? The problem of consciousness has gnawed at us for millennia. In the last century there have been massive breakthroughs that have rewritten the science of the brain, and yet the puzzles faced by the ancient Greeks are still present. In The Consciousness Instinct, the neuroscience pioneer Michael S. Gazzaniga puts the latest research in conversation with the history of human thinking about the mind, giving a big-picture view of what science has revealed about consciousness.
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Not recommended
- By PMonaco on 01-19-19
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The Master and His Emissary
- The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World
- By: Iain McGilchrist
- Narrated by: Dennis Kleinman
- Length: 27 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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This pioneering account sets out to understand the structure of the human brain - the place where mind meets matter. Until recently, the left hemisphere of our brain has been seen as the "rational" side, the superior partner to the right. But is this distinction true? Drawing on a vast body of experimental research, Iain McGilchrist argues while our left brain makes for a wonderful servant, it is a very poor master.
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The Master and His Emissary
- By Michael on 11-07-20
By: Iain McGilchrist
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The Life of the Mind
- By: Hannah Arendt
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 20 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Considered by many to be Hannah Arendt's greatest work, published as she neared the end of her life, The Life of the Mind investigates thought itself, as it exists in contemplative life. In a shift from her previous writings, most of which focus on the world outside the mind, this work was planned as three volumes that would explore the activities of the mind considered by Arendt to be fundamental. What emerged is a rich, challenging analysis of human mental activity, considered in terms of thinking, willing, and judging.
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English only please
- By angela cozea on 11-20-19
By: Hannah Arendt
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The Idea of the World
- A Multi-Disciplinary Argument for the Mental Nature of Reality
- By: Bernardo Kastrup
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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The Idea of the World offers a grounded alternative to the frenzy of unrestrained abstractions and unexamined assumptions in philosophy and science today. This book examines what can be learned about the nature of reality based on conceptual parsimony, straightforward logic, and empirical evidence from fields as diverse as physics and neuroscience. It compiles an overarching case for idealism - the notion that reality is essentially mental - from 10 original articles the author has previously published in leading academic journals.
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Idealism is crossing over to the mainstream
- By Amazon Customer on 02-18-20
By: Bernardo Kastrup
I really wanted to like it
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Lots of problems with the recording.
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***However, the recording quality of the book is abysmal (the editor often splices takes together so that the transitions are audible, and temporally misaligned). Additionally, the book itself is rather rambling. Chalmers should really write a more condensed and digestible boom about his main claim to fame.**
Essential knowledge
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Chalmers is a mind-body duelist based on his view of the separation between consciousness and the physical world. At the same time he believes that consciousness emerges from the organization of the physical world. He therefore does not limit consciousness to living things that have need of it to survive. He instead believes that mechanical systems such as thermostats may be conscious. It appears to be lost on him that this is self contradictory. If consciousness emerges from the physical world then why should it not be able to interact with the physical world to cause action and behavior in it? Chalmers cannot explain this and does not try to. But he is interested in extending his zombie argument to say that consciousness can be a property of machines. But if consciousness doesn't do anything in humans it would be hard to imagine what purpose it would possibly have in a machine such as a thermostat or computer.
Chalmers can have faith in conscious artificial intelligence because he believes consciousness is ubiquitous not just in living things but in the Universe at large. He therefore is sympathetic to panpsychism (the belief that consciousness is an integral property of the universe) although he seems finally reluctant to fully commit to it,. Chalmers then goes on to say he believes in Everett's interpretation of quantum mechanics that is the basis of the "Many Worlds" interpretation of QM. Yet Chalmers then confusingly says he disagrees with Many Worlds and subscribes to a "one world" interpretation of Everett's hypothesis. Yet every physicist who is an "Everettian (e.g., Sean Carroll) believes in Many Worlds.
And all of this is based on Chalmers' not only flawed but frankly inconceivable philosophical zombie thought experiment. In short, Chalmers is a property duelist, a panpsychist, an Everettian (but one who believes in one world) and a believer in machine consciousness. You can't make this stuff up, Yet Chalmers obviously managed to. Unfortunately, his theory is incoherent, self-contradictory, and based on mere assertions rather than logical argument.
Chalmers is charismatic and a dynamic speaker on the podcast and lecture circuit. People like listening to him even when what he is saying makes very little sense.
Chalmers' search for Consciousness
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NOT the narrator for this type of book.
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Both too advance and constant repetition
May be best for a college courses
Not excepted
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I need this book read by a different voice actor
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Not working
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Needlessly loft language hiding dubious argument
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1) pack of clarity in problem definition: It tries to discuss a matter (consciousness) and yet does not present a clear definition of the problem first
2) Forging assumptions as thought experiments! A great number of presented “thought experiments” are basically simple assumptions. Like the zombie model.
With knowledge it helped a bit, with wasting time it helped a lot!
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