Inducing Consciousness on the Way to Cognition [Paperback]

Glen Davidson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 12, 2001

This book gives a very goodaccount of consciousness, tying it into the informational states ofcognition.¿ The advantage of theapproach in this book is primarily that it is done according to quite anintegrated methodology, beginning with evolutionary considerations and bringingin various scientific, psychological, and philosophical aspects of bothconsciousness and cognition to show that essentially consciousness belongs tothe process of cognition.¿ Consciousnessarises from the process of becoming that results from induction in the brain,either in the mode of cognitive induction or as electromagnetic induction.¿ The case for this is made on severalgrounds, and especially according to the way in which we know things primarilywhile these are changing.¿ Also it isargued both that the processing of data happens too fast and is too integratedto happen via the relatively slow and low-information transfers at thesynapses.¿ "Cross-talk" between nervescannot be prevented and has to enter into the consideration of cognition atleast, but more importantly such a process explains how it is that we actuallycan know the information that goes into producing an action.¿ They are, and have to be, the sameinformation, and we become conscious as a part of producing action, at leastmental action.Althoughdeclining to publish this book, Executive Editor for the Humanities LindsayWaters at Harvard University Press stated that the project "--looks veryinteresting," based on summaries and samples of the book.¿ Acquisitions editor Jane Bunker, at one ofthe major US academic publishers in the field of consciousness, the StateUniversity of New York Press, wrote:¿"Although the manuscript you propose seems to us a sound and in manyways appealing one, our study of the project has yielded serious marketingconcerns," (also based on synopses and excerpts).¿ I am testing the marketing at present, and I hope that soundnessgratifies more than just the author.At any rate, one has toappreciate the fact that

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

This book makes the case for consciousness being a matter of field interactions. These fields are probably the electrical fields arising around the nerves and their impulses.

The approach taken is primarily cognitive and from out of depth psychology. Fundamentally this is because one should not consider consciousness from the level of abstraction and logic, for these apparently are secondary and partly derived. However, the book is also integrative with scientific observation and thought.

Throughout the book's discussion runs an evolutionary theme, beginning with the observation that once two nerves came close enough for field interactions there would immediately be "cross-talk". Handling "cross-talk" would require further informational interactions to address the "problem". Fixing the trouble "cross-talk" causes would thus lead inevitably into information processing in the fields.

That this seems to also lead to consciousness as we know it, is argued by considering that what we know consciously is typically changing and passing out of consciousness. Differences, too, are experienced as provoking consciousness, just as field differences are "felt" by electrical fields.

Consciousness is a continually shifting force, like a collectivity of interacting electrical fields is while in a dynamic state of flux. This creates an infinitely variable state of massive possibility.

Interacting fields allow information to remain in context, also another aspect of conscious knowledge.

These are the main points, and fill the space allotted here. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

I am a philosopher with astrong background in science.¿ I took apre-med humanities course for my BA, and philosophy in my master's course.¿ For my PhD I hope to be able to modify thisbook for my doctoral thesis.¿ Moreimportantly, I have long studied on my own the sciences, philosophical matters,and the humanistic areas, especially for the sake of my interest inconsciousness, beauty, and what we might be able to know about our own minds.Crucial to the book and itsvalue is that I have spent some years without school (prior to my present timeat university), or establishment concerns, focusing on art, nature, andespecially writing, thinking my own thoughts and not those of others.¿ Most books have little reason to be written,for the authors are simply re-doing old ideas, if perhaps developing theseideas a bit.¿ That is why we need theRalph Waldo Emersons, or Friedrich Nietzsches, people who did not stay forevertied to academia and the system. So I have combined along-running and wide-ranging formal education with a dip into my ownunconscious mind.¿ Oddly, these seemlike the essential credentials for consciousness study, yet this type seemsunusual today.¿ The New Age, telepathyand ESP sorts do not count, since romantic sentimentality is hardly an asset inconsidering consciousness - one must get past the sublime.¿ Although I do not claim to be Emerson, orbetter, Nietzsche, reincarnated, I can say that I know about the unconsciousresources of the mind all the while having a deep respect for science.¿ I believe that consciousness has to beexplicable, though not reducible, to both scientific explanation and to theintense symbolism of unconscious imagery.¿This is why I wrote thebook, to consider both the "spiritual" and the scientific aspects ofconsciousness, where these converge and where they diverge.¿ And in fact this is truly the decisivefactor behind writing the book, to work out ideas I had of consciousness in anintegrated manner.¿ The peripheralnature of words and logi

Product Details

• Paperback: 124 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse (November 12, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0759670986
• ISBN-13: 978-0759670983
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,778,954 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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