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The Resource Bright air, brilliant fire : on the matter of the mind, Gerald M. Edelman

Bright air, brilliant fire : on the matter of the mind, Gerald M. Edelman

Creator
Contributor
Summary
We are on the brink of understanding ancient mysteries: how we know, what governs our nature, what makes a person different from a thing. In the last decade, more than twenty disciplines dealing with every aspect of the brain have contributed to a revolution in the neurosciences--a revolution as significant, in the view of many observers, as the Galilean and Copernican revolutions in mathematics and physics or the Darwinian revolution in biology. In this book, one of the world's foremost brain scientists gives us a glimpse into the workings of the human brain--the most complex material object in the universe. A match head's worth of the brain contains about a billion connections that can combine in ways which can only be described as hyperastronomical--on the order of ten followed by millions of zeros (there are only about ten followed by eighty zeros' worth of positively charged particles in the whole known universe). Gerald Edelman takes us on a dazzling tour through such diverse topics as Turing machines, Darwin's "program," Jamesian flights and perchings, genetics, quantum physics, and the nature of perception, language, and individuality. He argues that biology will provide the key to understanding the brain and ultimately the mind. Underlying this argument is the evolutionary view that the mind arose at a definite time in history. This sweeping book considers our place in nature and how we came to be able to describe and change it. It examines the implications of understanding the brain for philosophy, for curing mental disease, and for the possibility of building conscious artifacts. Edelman does not hesitate to take on cognitive and behavioral approaches that leave biology out of the picture, as well as the currently fashionable view of the brain as a computer. He argues that the workings of the brain more closely resemble the living ecology of a jungle than they do the activities of an electric company. Some startling conclusions emerge from these ideas: individuality is necessarily at the very center of what it means to have a mind; no creature is born value-free; no physical theory of the universe can claim to be a "theory of everything" without including an account of how the brain gives rise to the mind. There is no greater scientific challenge than understanding the brain. Here's the book that provides a window on that understanding
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
1 online resource (xvi, 280 pages
Contents
  • pt. I: Problems. 1: Mind. 2: Putting the Mind Back into Nature. 3: The Matter of the Mind
  • pt. II: Origins. 4: Putting Psychology on a Biological Basis. 5: Morphology and Mind: Completing Darwin's Program. 6: Topobiology: Lessons from the Embryo. 7: The Problems Reconsidered
  • pt. III: Proposals. 8: The Sciences of Recognition. 9: Neural Darwinism. 10: Memory and Concepts: Building a Bridge to Consciousness. 11: Consciousness: The Remembered Present. 12: Language and Higher-Order Consciousness. 13: Attention and the Unconscious. 14: Layers and Loops: A Summary
  • pt. IV: Harmonies. 15: A Graveyard of Isms: Philosophy and Its Claims. 16: Memory and the Individual Soul: Against Silly Reductionism. 17: Higher Products: Thoughts, Judgments, Emotions. 18: Diseases of the Mind: The Reintegrated Self. 19: Is It Possible to Construct a Conscious Artifact? 20: Symmetry and Memory: On the Ultimate Origins of Mind
  • Mind Without Biology: A Critical Postscript
Link
Instance
Label
Bright air, brilliant fire : on the matter of the mind
Title
Bright air, brilliant fire
Title remainder
on the matter of the mind
Statement of responsibility
Gerald M. Edelman
Creator
Contributor
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
We are on the brink of understanding ancient mysteries: how we know, what governs our nature, what makes a person different from a thing. In the last decade, more than twenty disciplines dealing with every aspect of the brain have contributed to a revolution in the neurosciences--a revolution as significant, in the view of many observers, as the Galilean and Copernican revolutions in mathematics and physics or the Darwinian revolution in biology. In this book, one of the world's foremost brain scientists gives us a glimpse into the workings of the human brain--the most complex material object in the universe. A match head's worth of the brain contains about a billion connections that can combine in ways which can only be described as hyperastronomical--on the order of ten followed by millions of zeros (there are only about ten followed by eighty zeros' worth of positively charged particles in the whole known universe). Gerald Edelman takes us on a dazzling tour through such diverse topics as Turing machines, Darwin's "program," Jamesian flights and perchings, genetics, quantum physics, and the nature of perception, language, and individuality. He argues that biology will provide the key to understanding the brain and ultimately the mind. Underlying this argument is the evolutionary view that the mind arose at a definite time in history. This sweeping book considers our place in nature and how we came to be able to describe and change it. It examines the implications of understanding the brain for philosophy, for curing mental disease, and for the possibility of building conscious artifacts. Edelman does not hesitate to take on cognitive and behavioral approaches that leave biology out of the picture, as well as the currently fashionable view of the brain as a computer. He argues that the workings of the brain more closely resemble the living ecology of a jungle than they do the activities of an electric company. Some startling conclusions emerge from these ideas: individuality is necessarily at the very center of what it means to have a mind; no creature is born value-free; no physical theory of the universe can claim to be a "theory of everything" without including an account of how the brain gives rise to the mind. There is no greater scientific challenge than understanding the brain. Here's the book that provides a window on that understanding
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Edelman, Gerald M
Dewey number
128/.2
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
LC call number
BF161
LC item number
.E34 1991
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
  • dictionaries
  • bibliography
NLM call number
WL 103
NLM item number
E21b 1992
http://library.link/vocab/relatedWorkOrContributorName
Rogers D. Spotswood Collection
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Mind and body
  • Neuropsychology
  • Philosophy of mind
  • Neuropsychology
  • Philosophy
  • Mind and body
  • Neuropsychology
  • Philosophy of mind
  • Hersenen
  • Neuropsychologie
Label
Bright air, brilliant fire : on the matter of the mind, Gerald M. Edelman
Link
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-266) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
pt. I: Problems. 1: Mind. 2: Putting the Mind Back into Nature. 3: The Matter of the Mind -- pt. II: Origins. 4: Putting Psychology on a Biological Basis. 5: Morphology and Mind: Completing Darwin's Program. 6: Topobiology: Lessons from the Embryo. 7: The Problems Reconsidered -- pt. III: Proposals. 8: The Sciences of Recognition. 9: Neural Darwinism. 10: Memory and Concepts: Building a Bridge to Consciousness. 11: Consciousness: The Remembered Present. 12: Language and Higher-Order Consciousness. 13: Attention and the Unconscious. 14: Layers and Loops: A Summary -- pt. IV: Harmonies. 15: A Graveyard of Isms: Philosophy and Its Claims. 16: Memory and the Individual Soul: Against Silly Reductionism. 17: Higher Products: Thoughts, Judgments, Emotions. 18: Diseases of the Mind: The Reintegrated Self. 19: Is It Possible to Construct a Conscious Artifact? 20: Symmetry and Memory: On the Ultimate Origins of Mind -- Mind Without Biology: A Critical Postscript
Extent
1 online resource (xvi, 280 pages
Form of item
online
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
n
Other physical details
illustrations)
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(OCoLC)1028853995
Label
Bright air, brilliant fire : on the matter of the mind, Gerald M. Edelman
Link
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-266) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
pt. I: Problems. 1: Mind. 2: Putting the Mind Back into Nature. 3: The Matter of the Mind -- pt. II: Origins. 4: Putting Psychology on a Biological Basis. 5: Morphology and Mind: Completing Darwin's Program. 6: Topobiology: Lessons from the Embryo. 7: The Problems Reconsidered -- pt. III: Proposals. 8: The Sciences of Recognition. 9: Neural Darwinism. 10: Memory and Concepts: Building a Bridge to Consciousness. 11: Consciousness: The Remembered Present. 12: Language and Higher-Order Consciousness. 13: Attention and the Unconscious. 14: Layers and Loops: A Summary -- pt. IV: Harmonies. 15: A Graveyard of Isms: Philosophy and Its Claims. 16: Memory and the Individual Soul: Against Silly Reductionism. 17: Higher Products: Thoughts, Judgments, Emotions. 18: Diseases of the Mind: The Reintegrated Self. 19: Is It Possible to Construct a Conscious Artifact? 20: Symmetry and Memory: On the Ultimate Origins of Mind -- Mind Without Biology: A Critical Postscript
Extent
1 online resource (xvi, 280 pages
Form of item
online
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
n
Other physical details
illustrations)
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(OCoLC)1028853995

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