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Review
“This outstanding collection of new essays, many by major figures, covers virtually every important topic in current research on consciousness, often in illuminating depth. Nobody interested in current thinking about consciousness will want to be without this volume.”
David M. Rosenthal, City University of New York, Graduate Center
David M. Rosenthal, City University of New York, Graduate Center
“The list of contributors reads like a roll–call of the best modern studies of consciousness: they have contributed some of the best philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience of consciousness. The chapters of this companion show that consciousness has moved on from being a set of interesting problems towards being a topic of systematic, interdisciplinary scientific investigation.”
Patrick Haggard, University College London
“An absolutely indispensable resource for anyone interested in the study of consciousness. The major philosophical positions and controversies and all the latest scientific research are surveyed in 55 accessible, yet in–depth, essays.”
Robert Kane, University of Texas at Austin
"This is an outstanding book that anyone interested in consciousness really needs to read and absorb."
The Psychologist<!––end––>
"A valuable record of some of the best contempory thinking on consciousness."
The Journal of Consciousness Studies
Product Description
With fifty–five peer reviewed chapters written by the leading authors in the field, The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness is the most extensive and comprehensive survey of the study of consciousness available today.
- Provides a variety of philosophical and scientific perspectives that create a breadth of understanding of the topic
- Topics include the origins and extent of consciousness, different consciousness experiences, such as meditation and drug–induced states, and the neuroscience of consciousness
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is probably the best anthology I've seen in this area. The Consciousness literature has gone from being tiny to massive if little more than fifteen years or so; to the point it is getting difficult to find a way in.
This book has commissioned some new essays by some of the stars of the field and seems to have a fairly complete coverage even of some of the less well-known areas such as the contributions of philosophical psychopathology and machine consciousness. I'll definitely be using it for background as a resource for my courses, and think it is a good alternative to an 'introduction' for university students doing a courses on consciousness.
That said the casual reader might find this a little difficult to navigate and might do better with one of the more approachable single author volumes like Blackmore's introduction, Vellmans own introductory book (although both of these are idiosynchratic) or for the more ambitious Dennett's Consciousness Explained or Metzinger's Being No-One (although this latter is hard).
This book is certainly "a good companion" for the student of consciousness studies and the new essays treatment also offers something to the professional. It would also certainly be possible to build a course round its contents. For the general interest reader interested in getting acquainted with the field perhaps a more concise single author volume might be more appropriate.
This book has commissioned some new essays by some of the stars of the field and seems to have a fairly complete coverage even of some of the less well-known areas such as the contributions of philosophical psychopathology and machine consciousness. I'll definitely be using it for background as a resource for my courses, and think it is a good alternative to an 'introduction' for university students doing a courses on consciousness.
That said the casual reader might find this a little difficult to navigate and might do better with one of the more approachable single author volumes like Blackmore's introduction, Vellmans own introductory book (although both of these are idiosynchratic) or for the more ambitious Dennett's Consciousness Explained or Metzinger's Being No-One (although this latter is hard).
This book is certainly "a good companion" for the student of consciousness studies and the new essays treatment also offers something to the professional. It would also certainly be possible to build a course round its contents. For the general interest reader interested in getting acquainted with the field perhaps a more concise single author volume might be more appropriate.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Whilst I confess I haven't finished reading it yet (725 pages excluding appendix and index) it is clear that this is a good 'companion'.
It certainly isn't an introduction for those new to the subject, and it does come with all the benefits (varied perspectives) and problems (different styles) of being a collection by multiple authors.
Why it is so good is that it isn't a selection of seemingly random papers by people with something interesting to say, but a well structured, no messing, clearly written and up-to-date exploration of the subject.
What's more, you get both a philosophical and a scientific slant - vital in my view given the current state of play.
It certainly isn't an introduction for those new to the subject, and it does come with all the benefits (varied perspectives) and problems (different styles) of being a collection by multiple authors.
Why it is so good is that it isn't a selection of seemingly random papers by people with something interesting to say, but a well structured, no messing, clearly written and up-to-date exploration of the subject.
What's more, you get both a philosophical and a scientific slant - vital in my view given the current state of play.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The best feature of this companion is the wide range of topics discussed and the many points of view included. It treats, even if in many cases only marginally or superficially, a great many of the important topics on consciousness. Together with its references, it is certainly a recommendable place to start, but by no means is it a definitive survey, not only because there is no definitive text available, owing to the state of our knowledge on consciousness, but more precisely because many of the essays which treat important areas are inconclusive, vague or treat only marginally important areas of the topic. There are some very clear and systematic essays, which clarify many of the muddy points in this complex subject area. I found David Fontana's 2 essays on "Meditation" and on "Mystical Experience" well done, John Searle's essay on Biological Naturalism, full of clarity and down-to-earthness,and the very clear discussion of "Sensory and Perceptual Consciousness" by Austen Clark to be recommendable. It definitely is deficient on the philosophy of consciousness, probably treated better in the Blackwell Companion to Philosophy of Mind. Recommended as a start however. A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind (Blackwell Companions to Philosophy)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A fork in the philosophical road
Reading this book, over a period of about two months, has been a fairly epic and occasionally demanding journey. Read more
Published 11 months ago by John Ferngrove
A solid, comprehensive, up-to-date collection.
Almost as good an academic compendium of current thinking in the philosophy and science of consciousness as you could reasonably expect. Read more
Published on 27 Sep 2008 by Daniel Bor
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