Second Nature: Brain Science and Human KnowledgeBurgeoning advancements in brain science are opening up new perspectives on how we acquire knowledge. Indeed, it is now possible to explore consciousness--the very center of human concern--by scientific means. In this illuminating book, Dr. Gerald M. Edelman offers a new theory of knowledge based on striking scientific findings about how the brain works. And he addresses the related compelling question: Does the latest research imply that all knowledge can be reduced to scientific description? Edelman’s brain-based approach to knowledge has rich implications for our understanding of creativity, of the normal and abnormal functioning of the brain, and of the connections among the different ways we have of knowing. While the gulf between science and the humanities and their respective views of the world has seemed enormous in the past, the author shows that their differences can be dissolved by considering their origins in brain functions. He foresees a day when brain-based devices will be conscious, and he reflects on this and other fascinating ideas about how we come to know the world and ourselves. |
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Abnormal Activity to Consciousness animal antibodies artifact basal ganglia behavior belief biological body Brain Activity brain areas Brain-Based Approach Brain-Based Devices brain-based epistemology causal cerebral cortex circuits complex confabulation connections consider Consilience constraints cortex cortical creativity Darwin VII Darwin's Program Descartes disorders dynamic core Edelman emerged enormous entailed epigenetic evolution example experience Forms of Knowledge Freud Galilean Arc higher-order consciousness hippocampus Illusions input interactions issues language logic memory mental metaphor motor natural selection naturalized epistemology ness Neural Darwinism neuronal neuronal group selection neuroscience Nonetheless normative Notes to Pages notion origins patient pattern recognition perception philosophical physical proposed psychology qualia Quine reentrant reentry Repairing the Rift responses result scientific sciousness Second Nature selectional system Selectionism sensory sensory receptors signals specific structure synaptic syndromes temology thalamocortical thalamocortical system thalamus theory thought tion traditional epistemology truth ture understanding value systems Vico