The Mysterious Flame : Conscious Minds in a Material World

Is Consciousness Nothing More Than Brain Tissue, As Daniel Dennett Argues In His Best-selling Consciousness Explained? Or, As Others Claim, Is It A Fundamental Reality Like Space, Time, And Matter? In Recent Years The Nature Of Consciousness -- Our Immediately Known Experiences -- Has Taken Its Place As The Most Profound Problem That Science Faces. Now In This Brilliant And Thoroughly Accessible New Book Colin Mcginn Takes A Provocative Position On This Perplexing Problem. Arguing That We Can Never Truly Know Consciousness -- That The Human Intellect Is Simply Not Equipped To Unravel This Mystery -- He Demonstrates That Accepting This Limitation In Fact Opens Up A Whole New Field Of Investigation. Indeed, He Asserts, Consciousness Is The Best Place From Which To Begin To Understand The Internal Make-up Of Human Intelligence, To Investigate Our Cognitive Strengths And Weaknesses, And To Explore The Possibility Of Machine Minds. In Elegant Prose, Mcginn Explores The Implications Of This Mysterian Position -- Such As The New Value It Gives To The Power Of Dreams And Of Introspection -- And Challenges The Reader With Intriguing Questions About The Very Nature Of Our Minds And Brains. -- Publisher Description. Consciousness, Still Unexplained After All These Years -- Natural Mysteries And Biased Minds -- God, The Soul, And Parallel Universes -- Mind Space -- Secrets Of The Self -- Could A Robot Get The Blues? -- The Unbearable Heaviness Of Philosophy. Colin Mcginn. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. "Is consciousness nothing more than the result of neurons firing through brain tissue? Or is it, as some claim, a fundamental reality like space, time and matter? In recent years the nature of consciousness - our immediately known experiences - has taken its place as the most profound problem in the scientific discourse. Now in this new book, Colin McGinn takes a provocative position on this perplexing problem."--BOOK JACKET. "Arguing that we can never truly "know" consciousness - that the human intellect is simply not equipped to unravel this mystery - he demonstrates that accepting this limitation in fact opens up a whole new field of investigation. Indeed, he asserts, consciousness is the best place from which to begin to understand the internal make-up of human intelligence, to investigate our cognitive strengths and weaknesses, and to explore the possibility of machine minds."--BOOK JACKET. One of our most original thinkers addresses the scientific world's premier question: What is the nature of consciousness?