The Character of Consciousness
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Description
What is consciousness? How does the subjective character of consciousness fit into an objective world? How can there be a science of consciousness? In this sequel to his groundbreaking and controversial The Conscious Mind, David Chalmers develops a unified framework that addresses these questions and many others. Starting with a statement of the "hard problem" of consciousness, Chalmers builds a positive framework for the science of consciousness and a nonreductive vision of the metaphysics of consciousness. He replies to many critics of The Conscious Mind, and then develops a positive theory in new directions. The book includes original accounts of how we think and know about consciousness, of the unity of consciousness, and of how consciousness relates to the external world. Along the way, Chalmers develops many provocative ideas: the "consciousness meter", the Garden of Eden as a model of perceptual experience, and The Matrix as a guide to the deepest philosophical problems about consciousness and the external world. This book will be required reading for anyone interested in the problems of mind, brain, consciousness, and reality.Features
- David Chalmers is one of the most famous and respected scholars working in the philosophy of mind and consciousness studies. His book, The Conscious Mind, has defined much of the recent debate on the problem of consciousness.
Reviews
"For all that Chalmers offers us his magnificent, mammoth and challenging tour de force, there are many conservative strands in his thought that warrant serious challenge. The first step is to get to know his arguments in detail -- and there is no better place to start than with this book."--Daniel D. Hutto, Philosophy
"This huge collection is very well written and well organized. Readers can start their intellectual journey from virtually any chapter, and try to broaden their intellectual journey by reading related chapters. The technicality is limited so that it does not thwart understanding in general. It is written for both professional philosophers and serious lay people." --Metapsychology
"This valuable book brings together the important work that David Chalmers has done on the topic of consciousness since the publication of his seminal The Conscious Mind in 1996. It includes an expanded treatment of his semantic two-dimensionalism and his argument against physicalism, along with a number of insightful discussion of conscious experience that are independent of these. No one interested in these topics should be without this book." --Sydney Shoemaker, Cornell University
About the Author(s)
David J. Chalmers is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Consciousness at Australian National University and New York University. He is the author of The Conscious Mind, Philosophy of Mind: Classic and Contemporary Readings, and editor of the OUP series Philosophy of Mind.
