Note
- As well as his general Introduction, Thomas Metzinger provides useful introductions to each Section, and therein to each Paper.
- I may filch these in due course.
- Where an author has written a paper with the same title as that in this collection, and I have a copy, I’ve linked to that, though I haven’t yet checked for identity of text.
Amazon Book Description
- The big question used to be How can physical matter give rise to life? Now it is, How can physical matter give rise to consciousness? From that other questions, such as are animals conscious? or can machines be conscious?, all begin to tumble out.
- This cross-section of philosophical works consider questions related to consciousness. One section considers what it might feel like to have one's brain cells replaced, one by one, by computer "chips", and another looks at the development of conscious robots.
- There is also a bibliography on consciousness in philosophy, cognitive science and brain research since 1975, consisting of over 1000 entries.
ContentsIntroduction
- Conceptual Foundations
- Sceptical Accounts
- Thomas Metzinger: Introduction – 93
- Kathleen Wilkes: Losing Consciousness – 97
- Martin Kurthen: On the Prospects of a Naturalistic Theory of Phenomenal Consciousness – 107
- Georges Rey:Toward a Projectivist Account of Conscious Experience – 123
- Consciousness and the Physical World
- The Knowledge Argument
- Qualia
- Consciousness and Higher-Order States
- Information Processing and Neurobiological Approaches
- Thomas Metzinger: Introduction – 387
- Robert Kirk: How is Consciousness Possible? – 391
- Ansgar Beckermann: Visual Information Processing and Phenomenal Consciousness – 409
- Thomas Metzinger: Faster Than Thought – Holism, Homogeneity and Temporal Coding – 425
- Artificial Consciousness
- Thomas Metzinger: Introduction – 465
- Daniel Dennett: Cog: Steps Toward Consciousness in Robots – 471
- Dieter Birnbacher: Artificial Consciousness – 489
Appendix I: Selected Bibliography 1970-1995 – 507
Appendix II: List of Contributors – 557
Book Comment
Imprint Academic (1 Sept. 1999)
Text Colour Conventions (see disclaimer)- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2025
- Mauve: Text by correspondent(s) or other author(s); © the author(s)