The Substance Of Consciousness

A singularly powerful and rigorous argument in favor of modern substance dualism In The Substance of Consciousness: A Comprehensive Defense of Contemporary Substance Dualism, two distinguished philosophers deliver a unique and powerful defense of contemporary substance dualism, which makes the claim that the human person is an embodied fundamental, immaterial, and unifying substance. Multidisciplinary in scope, the book explores areas of philosophy, cognitive science, neuroscience, and the sociology of mind-body beliefs. The authors present the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and rigorous non-edited work on substance dualism in the field, as well as a detailed history of how property and substance dualism have been presented and evaluated over the last 150 years. Alongside developing new and updated positive arguments for substance dualism, they also discuss key metaphysical notions and distinctions that inform the examination of substance dualism and its alternatives. Readers will also find: A thorough examination of the recent shift away from standard physicalism and the renaissance of substance dualism Comprehensive explorations of the likely future of substance dualism in the twenty-first century, including an exhaustive list of proposed research projects for substance dualists Practical discussion of new and rigorous critiques of significant physicality alternatives, including emergentism and panpsychism. Extensive treatments of philosophy of mind debates about the roles played by staunch/faint-hearted naturalism and theism in establishing or presuming methodology, epistemic priorities, and prior metaphysical commitments Perfect for professional philosophers, The Substance of Consciousness will also earn a place in the libraries of consciousness researchers, philosophical theologians, and religious studies scholars.

A singularly powerful and rigorous argument in favor of modern substance dualism In The Substance of Consciousness: A Comprehensive Defense of Contemporary Substance Dualism, two distinguished philosophers deliver a unique and powerful defense of contemporary substance dualism, which makes the claim that the human person is an embodied fundamental, immaterial, and unifying substance. Multidisciplinary in scope, the book explores areas of philosophy, cognitive science, neuroscience, and the sociology of mind-body beliefs. The authors present the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and rigorous non-edited work on substance dualism in the field, as well as a detailed history of how property and substance dualism have been presented and evaluated over the last 150 years. Alongside developing new and updated positive arguments for substance dualism, they also discuss key metaphysical notions and distinctions that inform the examination of substance dualism and its alternatives. Readers will also find: A thorough examination of the recent shift away from standard physicalism and the renaissance of substance dualism Comprehensive explorations of the likely future of substance dualism in the twenty-first century, including an exhaustive list of proposed research projects for substance dualists Practical discussion of new and rigorous critiques of significant physicality alternatives, including emergentism and panpsychism. Extensive treatments of philosophy of mind debates about the roles played by staunch/faint-hearted naturalism and theism in establishing or presuming methodology, epistemic priorities, and prior metaphysical commitments Perfect for professional philosophers, The Substance of Consciousness will also earn a place in the libraries of consciousness researchers, philosophical theologians, and religious studies scholars.

‘How the consciousness comes into existence?’ is the second top unanswered mystery in science. The top unanswered mystery is ‘what is the universe made of?’ Physicalism or materialism finds itself quite inadequate to explain mental qualities and free will in terms of excitation of neurons and their modular connections. Untangling the mystery of consciousness has been esteemed as the proudest achievement of humankind. Consciousness is left as the last frontier in science whose explanation may perhaps require the conceptualisation of soul and god; otherwise, any divine soul or god is denied in existence, as it does not fit into the known science. This book explains consciousness by conceiving a scientific soul that leads to a plausible explanation for all aspects of consciousness and also leads to God. This book describes and explains consciousness comprehensively. Its offshoot also leads us a possible explanation for near-death-experiences, the origin of life and parapsychology. This book will lead you to know your thyself. It will awaken your spirit of inquiry for such questions as ‘who am I’ and ‘who is God’ while providing some answers also.

An original extended argument for an interactionist dualist philosophy of mind.

Psychology students are fascinated by consciousness but often find the topic puzzling. This is probably because there are different ways within the discipline to approach it. In The Science of Consciousness, top researchers from each of the three main areas of study introduce their angle and lead the student through the basic debates and research to date, ending with suggestions for further reading. Max Velmans has structured this collection especially for use as a base for a course of lectures or seminars on consciousness. The Science of Consciousness will rapidly become known as the best student text in this field for undergraduates, graduates and lecturers.

This book presents a strong case for substance dualism and offers a comprehensive defense of the knowledge argument, showing that materialism cannot accommodate or explain the 'hard problem' of consciousness. Bringing together the discussion of reductionism and semantic vagueness in an original and illuminating way, Howard Robinson argues that non-fundamental levels of ontology are best treated by a conceptualist account, rather than a realist one. In addition to discussing the standard versions of physicalism, he examines physicalist theories such as those of McDowell and Price, and accounts of neutral monism and panpsychism from Strawson, McGinn and Stoljar. He also explores previously unnoticed historical parallels between Frege and Aristotle and between Hume and Plotinus. His book will be a valuable resource for scholars and advanced students of philosophy of mind, in particular those looking at consciousness, dualism, and the mind-body problem.