Wow! eBook
Consciousness and the Social Brain
Author(s): Michael S. A. Graziano (Author)
- Publisher: OUP USA
- Publication Date: 19 Sept. 2013
- Edition: Illustrated
- Language: English
- Print length: 280 pages
- ISBN-10: 0199928649
- ISBN-13: 9780199928644
Book Description
What is consciousness and how can a brain, a mere collection of neurons, create it? In Consciousness and the Social Brain, Princeton neuroscientist Michael Graziano lays out an audacious new theory to account for the deepest mystery of them all. The human brain has evolved a complex circuitry that allows it to be socially intelligent. This social machinery has only just begun to be studied in detail. One function of this circuitry is to attribute awareness to others: to compute that person Y is aware of thing X. In Graziano’s theory, the machinery that attributes awareness to others also attributes it to oneself. Damage that machinery and you disrupt your own awareness. Graziano discusses the science, the evidence, the philosophy, and the surprising implications of this new theory.
Editorial Reviews
Review
Graziano’s work is in important step in bridging a persistent gap between mind and brain in interdisciplinary research, notably because he attempts to answer the questions that require asking, and he does so with a remarkable level of humility. ― Jean-Paul Orgeron, PhD, Department of Philosophy, State University of New York at Oneonta; Metapsychology, Online Reviews
About the Author
Michael S. A. Graziano, Professor of Neuroscience at Princeton University, is an internationally renowned scientist and an award-winning novelist. His books include the popular science book God, Soul, Mind, Brain and the short novels The Divine Farce, The Love Song of Monkey, and Death My Own Way.
