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The Conscious Brain

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Steven P. Rose (born 1938) is a professor of Biology and Neurobiology at the Open University and University of London.

He states in the Preface to the original (1972) edition of the book, "This book is neither a textbook nor anything like a comprehensive account of 'where brain science is now.' It is an argued case for particular interpretations of brain and mind phenomena and it is addressed to a wider audience than my fellow neurologists---who will doubtless find enough to dieagree with or to anger them."

Here are some representative quotations from the book:

"It is only when the philosophers ask (scientists) how it is done that scientists come to a standstill; until then, like the man who learned to his amazement that all his life he had been speaking prose, they had done it without knowing any better. Asked to justify this procedure, or to explain it, they are in the same difficulty as the bicyclist asked to describe how to ride a bike." (Pg. 25)
"In claiming that mind is the description of brain activity at a particular hierarchical level, I am adopting a particular version of what is known as the identity hypothesis.... I mean that for any event it would be possible to provide two equally valid sets of descriptions, one in 'mind' language the other in 'brain' language. Which one is used depends on why one wishes to use it." (Pg. 31)
"What is the 'I' which does the thinking? How is it possible for one's mind to be IN one's brain if, at the same time, it can think ABOUT one's brain?" (Pg. 35)
"But to extrapolate from these facts towards the claim that because similar brain structures exist in humans and frogs, human behavior is inevitably froglike, is nonsense, whatever some ethologists might maintain." (PG. 168)
"Consciousness is seen not as a thing but a process, expressing the relationships between the mind/brain and its environment. This definition, apart from everything else, avoids the danger of the infinite regress of an 'I' thinking about myself, thinking about myself..." (Pg. 339-340)