A New Thinking Emerges About Consciousness; Descartes Notwithstanding, Some Neuroscientists Find the Answer in Chemistry, Not Philosophy

From: The Washington Post | Date: May 20, 2002| Author: Shankar Vedantam | Copyright information

For centuries, philosophers have been bedeviled by this question: What makes people aware of themselves, and what gives rise to intention and free will? In other words, what is consciousness?

In the 17th century, the French philosopher Rene Descartes suggested that consciousness was like an "observer" in the head, a higher function, separate from the workings of the physical brain. In the four centuries since, no one has done much better in explaining subjective experience -- your sens...

Read all of this article with a FREE trial to HighBeam Research

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles from HighBeam Research

I Feel, Therefore I Am: A Study of Consciousness
The Washington Post ; ... semiconscious signals of muscle tone, balance, etc., is continuously making and remaking neural "maps," or representations, of its own physical state. (He calls these maps, collectively, the "proto-self.") The alterations brought about by worldly encounters ...
Books: Once more, with feeling The Private Life of the Brain by Susan A Greenfield Allen Lane, pounds 18.99, 256pp: Books about the brain have boomed as pop science takes over the shelves. But the mystery of emotion can still baffle the finest minds.
The Independent - London ; Evolution, quantum mechanics, and consciousness, but the greatest of these is consciousness. So goes the creed of the modern non- fiction publisher. The booksellers have done very well with science topics lately, but consciousness is now running away from the field. Every week seems to bring yet
Who=am I2.(theories on irreducibility of phenomenon of consciousness)
U.S. News & World Report ; In the conference center of the National Institutes of Health--a sleekly modernist temple of scientific objectivity--passions verge on erupting. Several scientists and academics attending the May symposium on Scientific Approaches to Consciousness are beside themselves over the claim made by one of
Sentience and sensibility: science is learning more about the brain every day and much of the new information has been very helpful. But big questions remain: what is the definition of human consciousness and why does it matter?(Cover Story)
Insight on the News ; Science is reaming more about the brain every day and much of the new information has been very helpful. But big questions remain: What is the definition of human consciousness and why does it matter? Bernard J. Baars is both amazed and very pleased at the flood of data on the brain and on
Deep sleep is shown to disconnect brain Researchers have found new ways to map the mind's activity during various stages of consciousness.
Albuquerque Journal ; Deep sleep disconnects the brain, or at least the higher regions of the brain, from one another so that consciousness fades, according to researchers who used new brain-imaging techniques to document the altered state of mind. The findings, published last month in the journal Science, offer some of