The View from Within: First-person Approaches to the Study of Consciousness (Consciousness Studies) [Paperback]

Francisco J Varela Ph.D. (Editor), Jonathan Shear Ph.D. (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0907845258 | ISBN-13: 978-0907845256

The study of conscious experience per se has not kept pace with the dramatic advances in PET, fMRI and other brain-scanning technologies. If anything, the standard approaches to examining the 'view from within' involve little more than cataloguing its readily accessible components. Thus the study of lived subjective experience is still at the level of Aristotelian science, leading to a widespread scepticism over the possibility of a truly scientific study of conscious experience.

Drawing on a wide range of approaches -- from phenomenology to meditation -- The View From Within examines the possibility of a disciplined approach to the study of subjective states. The focus is on the practical issues involved.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Since William James, there has been remarkably little attention in the sciences of the mind to the detailed investigation of conscious experience at the personal level. THE VIEW FROM WITHIN advances such investigation along several fronts, with articles on introspection, phenomenology, and meditative psychology. Especially valuable is the editors' introduction, which provides a useful guide to the methodology of first-person accounts, and the articles that build bridges to cognitive science, psychiatry, and the scientific study of meditation techniques. Invited commentaries by leading investigators of consciousness, together with authors' replies, make for a provocative presentation that will be discussed for some time to come. -- Evan Thompson

The View From Within is a brilliant presentation of the need to include first-person accounts in a science of consciousness. The editors sensibly maintain that a judicious balance of first-, second-, and third-person perspectives is not only desirable but unavoidable in any satisfactory study of consciousness. But their integrative approach is not merely a theoretical call for such; they provide instances of precisely how such a comprehensive approach can be pragmatically executed. As such, this book marks a major milestone in the science of consciousness, and it will surely become one of the standard references in the field. -- Ken Wilber

The View from Within, sets out to argue that it would be counterproductive for current consciousness research to continue to disregard the resources contained within exactly these three traditions. In their useful introduction, Varela and Shear, the two editors, spell out why we have to take first-person data into account, and why it is so necessary to develop an appropriate methodology. The publication is very timely indeed. It is a splendid initiative. -- Dan Zahavi, Times Literary Supplement, December 31, 1999

This is an important collection addressing what is arguably the greatest challenge now facing a science of consciousness. Such a science must connect third-person data about brain and behavior with first-person data about conscious experience. But how do we gather the first-person data, and how can we represent it? This book explores sophisticated ideas from a variety of traditions. I hope it sets the agenda for a renewed investigation of first-person methodologies and formalisms in the next few years. -- David Chalmers

This looks like a great book series a valuable extension of JCS. -- John Searle

About the Author

Francisco Varela is Director of Research at the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique and Professor of Cognitive Science and Epistemology, CREA, at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris.

Shear is Affiliate Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University and Managing Editor of the Journal of Consciousness Studies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Imprint Academic (May 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0907845258
• ISBN-13: 978-0907845256
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #656,231 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Diversity of Daring Approaches, April 24, 2000

By 

Gregory Nixon (Prince George, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The View from Within: First-person Approaches to the Study of Consciousness (Consciousness Studies) (Paperback)

Despite the temptation to grant only four stars because of some unevenness in the articles, the overall impression of *View...* is that of a "daring diversity of approaches" to understanding consciousness. All of these approaches represent a view from within conscious experience as opposed to the third person study of observed effects or technological readings of another's brain. Simultaneously, these views attempt to retain scientific credibility by demanding second person consensus or even corroboration by tradition. The book is united in the view of consciousness as largely unexplored terra incognita from the perspective of direct experience (at least in the West), thus rich with potential for brave explorations. (I seem to recall a great deal of inner exploration 30 years ago!) Yet, some of the articles, especially those on meditation, seem sometimes to offer a peculiar sort of reduction to the origins of mind in "pure consciousness experience" implying the lack of need to look any further. I agree that the objective scientific paradigm does much worse when it studies consciousness: It reduces subjective experience to an objective entity and must do so, probably degrading the direct conscious experience of those who so believe. This lively book remedies that and brings private experience - with flourish - back into the fold. In doing so, however, it retains empirical standards of comparison and suggests means of further experimentation or exploration. This is a carefully reasoned and intellectual foray into an aspect of consciousness studies which is most often ignored in the scientific community or aggrandized into a romantic & irrational mythology of "all experience is true" in New Age sorts of logical rejection. *View...* is a necessary bridge between these two extremes. Not that all writers are in agreement. Far from it: The editors, Jonathan Shear & the late, lamented Francisco Varela, invited a series of commentaries after the main theses had been presented and these sometimes are just as sharp & rewarding to read. Rich with insights and compelling with controversy & conflict, this book must be highly recommended.