The Crucible of ConsciousnessFirst religion explained how the mind emerged, language developed, and overall consciousness came into being. Many of these explanations were challenged during the "age of reason," grand metaphysical theories gradually displaced many of the religious perceptions of the world, only to be displaced by scientific advances at the start of the century. Now, Zoltan Torey, an Australian psychologist, freelance science writer, and science journalist for ABC Radio National in Australia, offers a new science-based theory of the human mind. Torey spent ten years using a process he calls reverse engineering, a process with a solid grounding in neuroscience, linguistics, and biological modelling to identify what we call the mind. He shows how it emerged, relates to language, generates consciousness, and yet remains hidden from insight. Sure to be controversial, The Crucible of Consciousness provides a unified description of the human mind, an antidote to the fragmented world and other simplistic belief-systems that occupy the cultural middleground. |
Contents
PERSPECTIVE | 1 |
THE EMERGENCE OF THE HUMAN BRAIN 29 2230 | 29 |
ADAPTIVE CHANGES FOR SPEECH AND THOUGHT | 45 |
Copyright | |
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Other editions - View all
The Crucible of Consciousness: An Integrated Theory of Mind and Brain Zoltan Torey Limited preview - 2009 |
The Crucible of Consciousness: An Integrated Theory of Mind and Brain Zoltan Torey No preview available - 2009 |
Common terms and phrases
achieve animistic areas articulated aspects attentional oscillation behaviour biological biosphere Brain lateralisation breakthrough Broca's area causal cerebral hemispheres chapter characterised cognitive complex component conceptual Conscious Experience conscious mind consciousness cortex cortical cosmic created distortions endogram entity evolution evolutionary evolved experiential facility focus frontal lobes func functioning handling hominid Homo Homo erectus human brain implies infrahuman input insight integrated interaction internal interneurons intracortical intrapsychic involved J. C. Eccles language linguistic means mechanism mental mind-boosted mind-system mind's modality experience Monod motor negentropic neocortex neotenous neural neurons North Holland objects operation organisation organism organism's panpsychism pattern physical primary percept problem proprioception proto-language proto-linguistic qualia quantum reflective awareness relevant representation response role scanning schemata secondary self-accessibility self-aware self-generated semantic sense sensory shift speech speech-thought structure substrate technique thinking thought tion totalisation transactions universe upgrading verbal word-percept words