The Emergence of Consciousness

Front Cover
Anthony Freeman
Imprint Academic, 2001 - Body, Mind & Spirit - 166 pages

How does the conscious mind relate to the physical body? Two common views from the past offered the stark choice between dualism which said mind and body were quite separate and physicalism which said that the mind was in fact 'nothing but' the physical brain. Both these views are now widely rejected. 'Emergence' theory offers a compromise: the mind 'emerges' from the physical body but the whole person, mind and body, is more than the sum of the physical parts. In The Emergence of Consciousness philosopher Robert Van Gulick gives a clear and masterly overview and comparison of the current 'emergent' and 'reductive' approaches. Other contributors discuss more detailed aspects of the subject. The editor's own chapter argues for the radical proposal that even God is an 'emergent property'.

 

Contents

Reduction Emergence and Other Recent Options
1
Emergence and the Uniqueness of Consciousness Natika Newton
47
Constraints on an Emergent Formulation
99
Why the Mind Is Not a Radically
123
God as an Emergent Property Anthony Freeman
147
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