Questioning Consciousness
The interplay of imagery, cognition, and emotion in the human brain
Questioning Consciousness brings together neuroscientific, psychological and phenomenological research, combining in a readable format recent developments in image research and neurology. It reassesses the mind-body relation and research on 'mental models', abstract concept formation, and acquisition of logical and apparently 'imageless' inference skills. It is argued that to be conscious of an object is essentially to imagine in a habituated way what would happen if we were to perform certain actions in relation to the object; and that mental images fit together to build up abstract concepts. This analysis shows why conscious information processing is so structurally different from — yet interrelated with — non-conscious processing, and how mind and body interrelate as a process to its substratum in the way that a sound wave relates to the medium through which it passes. (Series A)
[Advances in Consciousness Research, 2] 1995. viii, 262 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Published online on 1 July 2011
Published online on 1 July 2011
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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Introduction: Differences between Conscious and Non-Conscious Processing: Why they make a Difference | pp. 1–32
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1. The Relation between Imaginary and Perceptual Consciousness | pp. 33–66
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2. From Images to Concepts | pp. 67–88
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3. Images, Logic, and Mental Development | pp. 89–132
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4. the Ontological Status of Consciousness | pp. 133–162
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5. The Priority of Process over Substratum:Consciousness as an Organic Phenomenon | pp. 163–194
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6. Memory, Emotion and Symbolization | pp. 195–228
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Conclusion: The Centrality of Subjunctives | pp. 229–238
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Index | pp. 257–262
“A considerable potential contribution to the development of consciousness studies and cognitive science, showing us a possible escape route from the dead-end view of cognition as mechanical, unconscious computation with which spurious and quite ineffable 'qualia' just happen to be somehow associated. Not only does the book provide a promising new general theoretical direction, but there are also many points of detail that could be usefully tested, explored, clarified, and reworked by experimental as well as theoretical research.”
Nigel J.T. Thomas, California State University, in Psyche 3(4), October 1997
Cited by (20)
Cited by 20 other publications
Wiltsher, Nicholas
Dafermos, Manolis
Thomas, Nigel
Jager, Colin, R. Paul Yoder, John L. Mahoney, Heather I. Sullivan & Anthony Jarrells
Lethin, Anton
Magnani, Lorenzo & Emanuele Bardone
Setchi, Rossitza, Nikolaos Lagos & Danny Froud
Winkelman, Michael
Oosterheert, Ida E. & Jan D. Vermunt
Reid, Nicholas
Reid, Nicholas
Morris, Marla
Ellis, Ralph D.
Ellis, Ralph D.
Ellis, Ralph D.
Ellis, Ralph D.
Ellis, Ralph D.
Thomas, Nigel J.T.
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Subjects
Main BIC Subject
JMT: States of consciousness
Main BISAC Subject
PSY020000: PSYCHOLOGY / Neuropsychology