How does the firing of neurons give rise to subjective sensations, thoughts, and emotions? How can the disparate domains of mind and body be reconciled? The quest for a scientifically based understanding of consciousness has attracted study and speculation across the ages. In this direct and non-technical discussion of consciousness, Dr. Gerald M. Edelman draws on a lifetime of scientific inquiry into the workings of the brain to formulate answers to the mind-body questions that intrigue...

The themes discussed in this book form part of a revolutionary discipline known under the name of evolutionary psychology, a discipline that has become the most powerful tool discovered to date for man to understand himself. Much of the knowledge revealed by human science is explained as a result of the evolutionary process, using as a premise the theory that the majority of modern mans desires, impulses, interests and inclinations, and mental faculties were designed by the evolutionary proce...

In this thought-provoking book, Denis Noble formulates the theory of biological relativity, emphasising that living organisms operate at multiple levels of complexity and must therefore be analysed from a multi-scale, relativistic perspective. Noble explains that all biological processes operate by means of molecular, cellular and organismal networks. The interactive nature of these fundamental processes is at the core of biological relativity and, as such, challenges simplified molecular ...

How is life related to the mind? The question has long confounded philosophers and scientists, and it is this so-called explanatory gap between biological life and consciousness that Evan Thompson explores in Mind in Life.Thompson draws upon sources as diverse as molecular biology, evolutionary theory, artificial life, complex systems theory, neuroscience, psychology, Continental Phenomenology, and analytic philosophy to argue that mind and life are more continuous than ha...

The author of Medical Nihilism examines the philosophical complications and controversies underlying medicine.The philosophy of medicine has become a vibrant and complex intellectual landscape, and Care and Cure is the first extended attempt to map it. In pursuing the interdependent aims of caring and curing, medicine relies on concepts, theories, inferences, and policies that are often complicated and controversial. Bringing much-needed clarity to...

Darwin’s Apple proposes a new explanation for the origin and purpose of religion within the incontrovertible theory of evolution. It describes how religion is biologically adaptive and genetically evolved through the co-evolution of religion, ritual, and advanced human cognition.Reviewers’ comments about Darwin’s Apple:A good melange of scholarly thinking and yet readable to those who are not anthropologists, philosophers, or neuroscientists.

The intersection between the fields of behavioral decision research and neuroscience has proved to be fertile ground for interdisciplinary research. Whereas the former is rich in formalized models of choice, the latter is rife with techniques for testing behavioral models at the brain level. As a result, there has been the rapid emergence of progressively more sophisticated biological models of choice, geared toward the development of ever more complete mechanistic models of behavior....

For over three decades, Allan N. Schore has authored numerous volumes, chapters, and articles on regulation theory, a biopsychosocial model of the development, psychopathogenesis, and treatment of the implicit subjective self. The theory is grounded in the integration of psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience, and it is now being used by both clinicians to update psychotherapeutic models and by researchers to generate research. First published in 1994, this pioneering volume represented ...

A complete exploration of the real-world applications and implications of evolutionary psychologyThe exciting and sometimes controversial science of evolutionary psychology is becoming increasingly relevant to more fields of study than ever before. The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, Volume 2, Integrations provides students and researchers with new insight into how EP draws from, and is applied in, fields as diverse as economics, anthropology, neuros...

Where does science end and religion begin? Can "spiritual" images and feelings be understood on a neurobiological level without dismissing their power and mystery?In this book, psychiatrist Erik Goodwyn addresses these questions by reviewing decades of research, putting together a compelling argument that the emotional imagery of myth and dreams can be traced to our deep brain physiology, and importantly, how a sensitive look at this data reveals why mythic or reli...

Neuroscientific research on emotion has developed dramatically over the past decade. The cognitive neuroscience of human emotion, which has emerged as the new and thriving area of 'affective neuroscience', is rapidly rendering existing overviews of the field obsolete. This handbook provides a comprehensive, up-to-date and authoritative survey of knowledge and topics investigated in this cutting-edge field. It covers a range of topics, from face and voice perception to pain and music, as we...

The indispensable reference tool for the groundbreaking science of evolutionary psychologyWhy is the mind designed the way it is? How does input from the environment interact with the mind to produce behavior? These are the big, unanswered questions that the field of evolutionary psychology seeks to explore. The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology is the seminal work in this vibrant, quickly-developing new discipline. In this thorough revision and expansio...