Mind and Its Place in the World: Non-reductionist Approaches to the Ontology of ConsciousnessWhat is the mind? What is its relationship to the physi-cal world? Is consciousness a causative agent in the physical world? With much progress being made in the neurosciences, many have thought that these questions could be answered by reducing them to questions about physical systems such as the brain. In many previous studies this approach has foundered on the core problem of consciousness: Why is it that some brain processes are accompanied by conscious awareness? This anthology points out new sources and unexamined paths of consciousness research. By presenting a wide spectrum of non-reductive theories, the volume endeavors to overcome the dichotomy between dualism and monism that keeps plaguing the debate in favor of new and more differentiated positions. Alexander Batthyany teaches Theory of Science at the University of Vienna and is head of the Scientific Board of the Viennese Viktor Frankl Institute where he is also in charge of the private Frankl archives and edits the 12-volume Collected Works of Viktor Frankl (with Karlheinz Biller and Eugenio Fizzotti). Batthyany's research focuses on the philosophy of mind and theoretical cognitive science, and the theory of psychology. Avshalom Elitzur, physicist and philosopher, has refereed publications in quantum mechanics, relativity theory, time's arrow, evolutionary theory, philosophy of mind, psychology of religious experience and suicide prevention. Co-inventor of the Elitzur-Vaidman interaction-free measurement, co-founder of the Center for Frontier Sciences at Temple University, Philadelphia and co-editor of Quo Vadis Quantum Mechanics? as well as of other books. |
