Customer Reviews

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

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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.