Customer Reviews

Theories of Consciousness: An Introduction (Philosophical Issues in Science)

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William Seager gives a wonderful account of all the predominant theories of consciousness that have been given, begining with Descartes, right up to the present, and critically analyzes them. He describes the issues with detail and gives valuable insights. Though not a difficult read, I do not recommend going through the book too quickly, as you should take care to understand what is being said. Basic knowledge of philosophy of mind would be a valuable asset. The *perfect* book for begining a journey into consciousness!

I am writing a full, formal review of this book for _Philosophical Psychology_, where I develop some of my criticisms in more detail. This is just a short preview of what's to come.

This book is an interesting read, although it is definately not for the beginner. It assumes a good amount of philosophical training already-- which is not a bad thing, but such training would already assume familiarity with some of the issues that Seager tries to present in this introduction. The book could also use some closer editing-- there are a few embarrasing typos and awkward sentences that the editors at Rutledge should have caught.

As for the content, the book his hit and miss. The chapter on HOT theory is excellent, and as good an introduction as any. The first chapter on Dennett is also valuable. But Seager has the strangest reading of Descartes I've seen, and his eagerness to suggest emperical experiments to undermine verificantionist thought experiments actually betray his tendency towards armchair philosophy. He also gives panpsychism short shrift. Perhaps most eggregious is the chapter on identity theory: no mention of the work of Smart, Place, and Armstrong at all. Rather, Seager attacks a going model of qualia, Paul Churchland's vector theory, and shows why it can't work as a full theory of consciousness. While his criticism stands, its just sloppy to ignore the philosophical and historical contributions to the mind/body debate and then try to rebutt a specific model with the complaint that it doesn't address the issues that are most philosophically interesting.

For all that, though, the book makes many good points and clears up a number of misconceptions, especially about HOT theory and representatonalist theories. I think chapters of this book will make good readings for undergrad seminars on consciousness or phil of mind, or perhaps even intro grad seminars. But, if you're really interested in consciousness, I still recommend the anthology by Block, Flanagan, and Guzeldere _The Nature of Consciousness_. You'll get more of your money's worth.

First of all, I think it's pretty nuts that the reviewer above can say that Seager gives panpsychism "short shrift" - did he not make it to the last chapter? That chapter, by the way, is entitled "Consciousness, Information, and PANPSYCHISM", and the entire point of it is to try to construct a defense of....PANPSYCHISM (this results from a consideration of Chalmers's ideas). In an academic climate in which, justifiably or not, panpsychism is often taken about as seriously as David Icke's theory of reptilian "shape-shifters" controlling the world (with panpsychists thus being seen as worthy of the Art Bell show rather than any professorial chair), one can hardly imagine a more serious attempt (in a book of this modest size anyway) at an explanation and defense of this theory than the one provided by Seager.

Kudos to Seager for treating what he calls the "generation problem" seriously (that is, how in the world can non-conscious matter generate consciousness?) and for avoiding the off-putting dogmatism displayed by certain other consciousness researchers.

I appreciate also that he takes seriously the question of what kind of understanding we ought ever justifiably to expect of consciousness, since we are denied third person observation of consciousness, and are therefore left largely trying to understand consciousness by and through it itself.

Potential buyers should know that this book is one man's meditation on this difficult subject, rather than a general "introduction to consciousness" (for that, buy the Susan Blackmore book, "Consciousness: An Introduction"). It is also pretty technical. I am fairly new to this topic, but because I had already read through the Blackmore book and some others, I was able to get most of what Seager says. So, it is not of value exclusively to other scholars; but without some prior introduction to consciousness, the reader will be quite confused.

This book was written in 1999. Because Seager seems like a fair and thoughtful guy, I would like to see an updated version of this book taking into account some of what has transpired in the field since then.

Bottom line is - for people really serious about consciousness, I think this book is worth adding to the library.