The Evolution of Consciousness

The Evolution of Consciousness PDF Author: Bjørn Grinde
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319436856
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
This book gives the reader an understanding of what consciousness is about, and of how to make conscious experiences more pleasant. It expands on a new theory that describes the evolutionary trajectory leading to conscious life forms. In short, the evidence suggests that consciousness first evolved some 300 million years ago as a consequence of the introduction of feelings. Feelings offer a strategy for making behavioural decisions. Besides playing a crucial role in the evolution of the human mind, they are a key factor in regard to mental health and quality of life. Fortunately, the human brain is plastic. By exploiting available options for modulating the mind, it is therefore possible to impact on what sort of experiences the brain serves. More specifically, you can strengthen the capacity for positive feelings and reduce the sway of negative feelings. The text covers biological, neurological, psychological, and philosophical aspects of the mind.

The Evolution of Consciousness

The Evolution of Consciousness PDF Author: Bjørn Grinde
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319436856
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book gives the reader an understanding of what consciousness is about, and of how to make conscious experiences more pleasant. It expands on a new theory that describes the evolutionary trajectory leading to conscious life forms. In short, the evidence suggests that consciousness first evolved some 300 million years ago as a consequence of the introduction of feelings. Feelings offer a strategy for making behavioural decisions. Besides playing a crucial role in the evolution of the human mind, they are a key factor in regard to mental health and quality of life. Fortunately, the human brain is plastic. By exploiting available options for modulating the mind, it is therefore possible to impact on what sort of experiences the brain serves. More specifically, you can strengthen the capacity for positive feelings and reduce the sway of negative feelings. The text covers biological, neurological, psychological, and philosophical aspects of the mind.

In the Light of Evolution

In the Light of Evolution PDF Author: National Academy of Sciences
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
The Arthur M. Sackler Colloquia of the National Academy of Sciences address scientific topics of broad and current interest, cutting across the boundaries of traditional disciplines. Each year, four or five such colloquia are scheduled, typically two days in length and international in scope. Colloquia are organized by a member of the Academy, often with the assistance of an organizing committee, and feature presentations by leading scientists in the field and discussions with a hundred or more researchers with an interest in the topic. Colloquia presentations are recorded and posted on the National Academy of Sciences Sackler colloquia website and published on CD-ROM. These Colloquia are made possible by a generous gift from Mrs. Jill Sackler, in memory of her husband, Arthur M. Sackler.

Future Consciousness

Future Consciousness PDF Author: Thomas Lombardo
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
ISBN: 1782790705
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 796

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Book Description
How do our unique conscious minds reflect and amplify nature’s vast evolutionary process? This book provides a scientifically informed, psychologically holistic approach to understanding and enhancing our future consciousness, serving as a guide for creating a realistic, constructive, and ethical future. Thomas Lombardo reveals how we can flourish in the flow of evolution and create a prosperous future for ourselves, human society and the planet.

The Evolution of the Sensitive Soul

The Evolution of the Sensitive Soul PDF Author: Simona Ginsburg
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262039303
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 665

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Book Description
A new theory about the origins of consciousness that finds learning to be the driving force in the evolutionary transition to basic consciousness. What marked the evolutionary transition from organisms that lacked consciousness to those with consciousness—to minimal subjective experiencing, or, as Aristotle described it, “the sensitive soul”? In this book, Simona Ginsburg and Eva Jablonka propose a new theory about the origin of consciousness that finds learning to be the driving force in the transition to basic consciousness. Using a methodology similar to that used by scientists when they identified the transition from non-life to life, Ginsburg and Jablonka suggest a set of criteria, identify a marker for the transition to minimal consciousness, and explore the far-reaching biological, psychological, and philosophical implications. After presenting the historical, neurobiological, and philosophical foundations of their analysis, Ginsburg and Jablonka propose that the evolutionary marker of basic or minimal consciousness is a complex form of associative learning, which they term unlimited associative learning (UAL). UAL enables an organism to ascribe motivational value to a novel, compound, non-reflex-inducing stimulus or action, and use it as the basis for future learning. Associative learning, Ginsburg and Jablonka argue, drove the Cambrian explosion and its massive diversification of organisms. Finally, Ginsburg and Jablonka propose symbolic language as a similar type of marker for the evolutionary transition to human rationality—to Aristotle's “rational soul.”

Conscious Evolution

Conscious Evolution PDF Author: Barbara Marx Hubbard
Publisher: New World Library
ISBN: 1577312813
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
Outlining the new worldview of conscious evolution, futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard has written a call to action for our current generation to fulfill its creative potential. She defines conscious evolution as “the awareness that humans have gained the power to affect our own evolution,” and she asserts that we must quickly become capable of wise and ethical guidance of evolution itself, if life on earth is to survive. Only in the last fifty years have we gained the scientific and technological power to destroy or enhance the planet's life-support system. Our generation has the ability to abuse or conserve these powers — to act, in a way, as “co-creator.” Conscious Evolution reveals the “path of the co-creator” — born out of these powers and society's new spirituality — and discusses the tools and opportunities that each of us has to fully participate in this exciting stage in history.

How Humanity Came Into Being

How Humanity Came Into Being PDF Author: M. G. Lockley
Publisher: Floris Books
ISBN: 9780863157325
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
A fascinating journey through our anthropological history which points towards an emerging collective awakening for the human race.

Evolution of Consciousness

Evolution of Consciousness PDF Author: Robert Evan Ornstein
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0671792245
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Based on his life's research, Robert Ornstein provides a look at the evolution of the mind. He explains that we are not rational but adaptive, and that it is Darwin, not Freud, who is the central scientist of the brain. Our minds have evolved to help us survive, not to reason. At the same time, our individual worlds have developed our minds and destroyed many of our natural abilities.

The Evolution of Consciousness

The Evolution of Consciousness PDF Author: Euan M. Macphail
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780198503255
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Accessible to psychology students, philosophy students and non-specialists, this book will appeal particularly to readers with an interest in consciousness in animals. It draws implications for the nature of mind from contemporary evidence.

Changes of Mind

Changes of Mind PDF Author: Jenny Wade
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791428498
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
An original theory of the development of consciousness that brings together research from neurology, new-paradigm studies, psychology, and mysticism.

A Mind So Rare

A Mind So Rare PDF Author: Merlin Donald
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393323191
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
Donald (psychology, Queen's University, Canada) challenges the prevailing view that seeks to explain away human consciousness and presents a theory on the origins of the modern mind. He describes the cultural and neuronal forces that power human modes of awareness, and proposes that the human mind is a hybrid product of the interweaving of the brain with an invisible symbolic web of culture to form a "distributed" cognitive network. Using evidence from brain and behavioral studies of humans and animals, he explains how an expansion of consciousness transcends the limitations of the mammalian mind, and elaborates the foundations of self-evaluation and self-reflection. c. Book News Inc.