On Sale: Apr 26, 2000
Page Count: 256 pages
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN-13: 9780465014231

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$25.99 CAD

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Trade Paperback $19.99 $25.99 CAD

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Is consciousness nothing more than brain tissue, as Daniel Dennett argues in his best-selling Consciousness Explained ? Or, as others claim, is it a fundamental reality like space, time, and matter? In recent years the nature of consciousness — our immediately known experiences — has taken its place as the most profound problem that science faces. Now in this brilliant and thoroughly accessible new book Colin McGinn takes a provocative position on this perplexing problem. Arguing that we can never truly “know” consciousness — that the human intellect is simply not equipped to unravel this mystery — he demonstrates that accepting this limitation in fact opens up a whole new field of investigation. Indeed, he asserts, consciousness is the best place from which to begin to understand the internal make-up of human intelligence, to investigate our cognitive strengths and weaknesses, and to explore the possibility of machine minds. In elegant prose, McGinn explores the implications of this Mysterian position — such as the new value it gives to the power of dreams and of introspection — and challenges the reader with intriguing questions about the very nature of our minds and brains.

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Colin Mcginn

About the Author

Colin McGinn is Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University. He is author of several books, including The Character of the Mind; Moral Literacy; Minds and Bodies: Philosophers and Their Ideas; Ethics, Evil, and Fiction; and Mental Content.

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