Mind Time: The Temporal Factor in Consciousness

Benjamin Libet

Published by Harvard University Press 2005

Mind Time

The Temporal Factor in Consciousness

Benjamin Libet
Preface by: Stephen M. Kosslyn

In the series Perspectives in Cognitive Neuroscience

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674040168

Overview
Contents

About this book

Over a long and distinguished career Libet has conducted experiments that have helped us see, in clear and concrete ways, how the brain produces conscious awareness. For the first time, Libet gives his own account of these experiments and their importance to our understanding of consciousness.

Reviews

Mind Time makes for extremely interesting, engaging reading. Its discussions of consciousness, subjectivity, free will, and perception will intrigue anybody in philosophy or psychology interested in those topics. This is a valuable book to have available.
-- David Rosenthal, Philosophy and Cognitive Science Graduate Center, City University of New York

Benjamin Libet's discoveries are of extraordinary interest. His is almost the only approach yet to yield any credible evidence of how conscious awareness is produced by the brain. Mind Time endeavors to clarify these startling observations for the general public, set them in proper framework of neuroscientific knowledge, and probe their philosophical meaning. Libet's work is unique, and speaks to questions asked by all humankind.
-- Robert W. Doty, PhD, Professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Rochester

This book is strikingly different from most of the other books on consciousness in one key respect: it focuses on empirical discoveries, not speculation or argument.
-- From the Foreword by Stephen Kosslyn

Libet only dared switch to the study of consciousness after he got tenure. It is fortunate for us that he did, and that he has presented us here with what amounts to a retrospective exhibition of his work...The refreshing result is that we are immediately engaged in an earnest one-to-one tutorial with [him]...In [his] work, philosophers have found grist for what they do best. Indeed, his experiments...must rank as one of the major contributions of experimental psychology to modern philosophy of mind...[W]hether or not one agrees with his thesis or not, one must acknowledge that his pioneering experimental work has certainly been stimulating.
-- Kevan Martin Nature

What makes Benjamin Libet different from all the others writing on [consciousness]...is that he has actually spent the past 40 years experimenting on the topic. His findings have played a central role in others' speculations. Now he has put his life's work into a single short book.
-- Steven Rose New Scientist

[Libet's] book is greatly to be welcomed because it provides the first full and detailed account of his famous experiments, explaining how and why he carried them out, and how he came to his conclusions...What is new is Libet's 'conscious mental field theory,' which is startlingly different from any other current theory of consciousness.
-- Susan Blackmore Times Higher Education Supplement

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
FOREWORD Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
PREFACE Publicly Available Download PDF	xvii
1 INTRODUCTION TO THE QUESTION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 THE DELAY IN OUR CONSCIOUS SENSORY AWARENESS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
3 UNCONSCIOUS AND CONSCIOUS MENTAL FUNCTIONS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	90
4 INTENTION TO ACT: DO WE HAVE FREE WILL? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
5 CONSCIOUS MENTAL FIELD THEORY: EXPLAINING HOW THE MENTAL ARISES FROM THE PHYSICAL Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
6 WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
BIBLIOGRAPHY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	225
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 272

eBook

Published: July 1, 2009
ISBN: 9780674040168