Nicholas Humphrey

En Una historia de la mente, Huphrey propone una teoría nueva y radical. al explorar la división entre sensación y percepción, muestra cómo las sensaciones crudas se hallan en el centro de todos los

¿Cómo fue que el agua del cerebro se convirtió en el vino de la conciencia? ¿Cuándo adquirió la materia las cualidades de la mente? En este libro penetrante e informativo, Nicholas Humphrey, psicólogo experimental de prestigio internacional, guia al lector en un viaje que abarca millones de años, en busca de las claves del modo como evoluciono la conciencia. En Una Historia de la mente, Humphrey propone una teoria nueva y radical. Al explorar la division entre sensacion y percepcion, muestra como las sensaciones crudas se hallan en el centro de todos los estados conscientes: "Siento, luego soy". Y describe como la conciencia sensorial -nuestra percatacion de "como es ser nosotros mismos"- puede haberse desarrollado a partir de las respuestas corporales del dolor y placer de nuestros antepasados primitivos. Desde el "dolor fantasma", experimentado por personas que han perdido algun miembro, hasta la misteriosa facultad de la "vision a ciegas" (vision inconsciente), Humphrey nos guia hacia los intimos mecanismos de nuestra mente y vuelve comprensibles las cuestiones mas dificiles. En su recorrido, Una historia de la mente va cubriendo distintas areas: como nuestros gustos y rechazos de los colores reflejan nuestra historia evolutiva; que tienen para decirnos los mellizos siameses acerca de la relacion con nuestro propio cuerpo; y como el LSD y la mescalina expanden la experiencia del "tiempo subjetivo". La relacion entre alma y cuerpo es uno de los grandes desafios aun planteados a la ciencia y a la filosofia. Nicholas Humphrey osa resolver el "problema mente-cuerpo..." y puede que ya no volvamos a mirarnos a nosotros mismos del mismo modo.

We feel therefore we are Conscious sensations ground our sense of self They are essential to our idea of ourselves as psychic beings present existent and mattering But is it only humans who feel this way Do other animals Will future machines To answer these questions we need a scientific understanding of consciousness what it is and why it has evolved Nicholas Humphrey has been researching these issues for fifty years In this extraordinary book weaving together intellectual adventure cutting edge science and his own breakthrough experiences he tells the story of his quest to uncover the evolutionary history of consciousness from his discovery of blindsight after brain damage in monkeys to hanging out with mountain gorillas in Rwanda to becoming a leading philosopher of mind Out of this he has come up with an explanation of conscious feeling phenomenal consciousness that he presents here in full for the first time Building on this theory of how phenomenal consciousness is generated in the human brain he turns to the morally crucial question of whether it exists in non human creatures His conclusions on the evidence as it stands are radical Contrary to both popular and much scientific opinion he argues that phenomenal consciousness is a re

We feel therefore we are Conscious sensations ground our sense of self They are essential to our idea of ourselves as psychic beings present existent and mattering But is it only humans who feel this way Do other animals Will future machines To answer these questions we need a scientific understanding of consciousness what it is and why it has evolved Nicholas Humphrey has been researching these issues for fifty years In this extraordinary book weaving together intellectual adventure cutting edge science and his own breakthrough experiences he tells the story of his quest to uncover the evolutionary history of consciousness from his discovery of blindsight after brain damage in monkeys to hanging out with mountain gorillas in Rwanda to becoming a leading philosopher of mind Out of this he has come up with an explanation of conscious feeling phenomenal consciousness that he presents here in full for the first time Building on this theory of how phenomenal consciousness is generated in the human brain he turns to the morally crucial question of whether it exists in non human creatures His conclusions on the evidence as it stands are radical Contrary to both popular and much scientific opinion he argues that phenomenal consciousness is

¿Qué es y para qué sirve la conciencia? ¿Por qué se desarrolla en el hombre y por qué ha evolucionado? Abordando un original camino que comienza en Haití y sigue por los volcanes de Virunga -tierra de los gorilas de Dian Fossey- NICHOLAS HUMPHREY recobra en este libro estas viejas preguntas y propone superar las teorias tradicionales sobre la evolucion del intelecto humano, adentrandonos en una nueva hipotesis: que los problemas fundamentales del ser humano son los sociales, los que plantea la vida en grupo, que nos obligan a actuar como psicologos naturales y a interrogarnos constantemente sobre los pensamientos, deseos y conducta de quienes nos rodean. La conciencia seria, pues, la respuesta a los problemas que nos plantea comprender a los otros: LA MIRADA INTERIOR que nos permite aventurarnos en nuestra propia psicologia y, por ende, en la de los demas.

How is consciousness possible? What biological purpose does it serve? Why do we value it so highly? In Soul Dust the psychologist Nicholas Humphrey, a leading figure in consciousness research, returns to the front-line with a startling new theory. Consciousness, he argues, is nothing less than a magical-mystery show that we stage for ourselves inside our own heads. This self-made show lights up the world for us, making us feel special and transcendent. Tightly argued, intellectually gripping and a joy to read, Soul Dust is a keenly anticipated book that provides answers to the deepest questions. It dovetails the hard problem of consciousness with the matters that obsess us all - the fear of death, how life should be lived. Resting firmly on neuroscience and evolutionary theory, it is an uncompromising yet life-affirming work that never loses sight of the majesty and mystery of consciousness.

A fascinating inquiry into why beauty matters and how it has played an evolutionary role in our understanding of the world.From a pioneering neuropsychologist and the winner of the Mind and Brain Prize.Why do we love beauty? And why is the world so full of it? From rainbows and mountain landscapes to piano sonatas and Cezanne paintings, much of what we find beautiful seems to serve no practical purpose, despite our instinctive attraction to it. In this path-breaking book Why Is the World So Beautiful?, psychologist Nicholas Humphrey explains that the benefits of being drawn to beauty are primarily cognitive: were training our minds.Inspired by a line from the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, that all beauty may be called rhyme, the author argues that by actively searching for rhyming connections between things, we establish the mental models that guide our understanding of the world. These rhymes extend beyond sounds to shapes, colors, objects, and even abstract ideas. Just as we need food to nourish our bodies, we need rhymes to nourish our minds.Our attraction to rhymes and patterns culminates in a uniquely human form of aesthetic emotion, one that recognizes that all artistry must issue from an artist. This leads Humphrey to his boldest claim: when we encounter beauty in the natural world, we are responding as if to a hidden artistsor Creatorshand. The result is a daring and illuminating argument for why beauty moves usand why our hunger for it is as fundamental as our need for meaning itself.