A mind so rare : the evolution of human consciousness / Merlin Donald.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Donald, Merlin, 1939-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Consciousness.

Physical Description:

xiv, 371 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : W.W. Norton, [2001]

Summary:

A convincing reassertion of consciousness as an evolutionary triumph and the center of human genius. In this polemical work, Merlin Donald refutes the arguments of scientists and philosophers who dismiss consciousness as a superficial byproduct of evolution. His thesis presents the forces, both cultural and neuronal, that power the distinctively human modes of awareness. 8 b/w line drawings.

Contents:

1. Consciousness in Evolution 1

Demons and memes 3

Questions of definition 4

Building our own demons 7

2. The Paradox of Consciousness 13

A limited instrument 14

Minimalist people 16

The ultimate form of deconstruction 19

The tunnel of consciousness 21

The paradox of paradoxes 25

Hardliners 28

Radical presumption 31

Even more radical presumption 35

Dennett's dangerous idea 39

3. The Governor of Mental Life 46

The time frame of awareness 47

Confusion over automaticity 57

The clinical view: Consciousness and self-governance 59

An aggressive, interventionist consciousness: A case history 70

Zasetsky's mirror twins 76

A literary view 78

Vertical depth and unity: The true reach of metacognition 83

Internalization and solipsistic awareness 87

Changing our model 88

4. The Consciousness Club 92

The materiality of mind 96

Eliminating the scale problem 99

Vestigial brains, not so vestigial minds 106

Avoiding the scala naturae 113

Defining the domain 117

The Consciousness Club 122

Bringing extra resources to bear 130

Embodiment, egocenters, and homunculi 134

The Executive Suite: Defining the primate "zone of proximal evolution" 137

5. Three Levels of Basic Awareness 149

The myth of the isolated mind 149

The great computational divide 153

The dawn of hybrid mind: Access to memory 157

Models of models and the tertiary regions 164

Chasing phantoms 168

Level-1 awareness: Selective binding 178

Level-2 awareness: Short-term control 184

Level-3 awareness: Intermediate-and long-term governance 195

Episodic awareness 200

Entertaining a radical possibility 202

6. Condillac's Statue 205

Minds in motion 206

Superplasticity 208

The Third Man: Deep enculturation 211

The much-misunderstood Statute and the birth of Constructivism 214

Mandler's dictum 227

The extraordinary mind of Helen Keller 232

Contact 239

Outside-Inside 250

7. The First Hybrid Minds on Earth 252

Abandoning solipsism 252

Consciousness and community of mind 254

The cultural relevance of a multifocal, multilayered consciousness 257

The stages of human cultural and cognitive evolution 259

The first transition: Establishing the mimetic framework of human culture 262

The germ of self-consciousness 269

Kinematic imagination 271

The second transition: The spiraling coevolution of thought and symbol 274

Piggybacking language on culture 279

Our cerebral boxing match with the cultural matrix 285

The management of idea-laundering schemes 287

Symbolic invention and the growth of the lexicon 290

The virtual realities of oral-mythic culture 295

Collectivity of mind 298

8. The Triumph of Consciousness 301

The third transition: The invention of symbolic technologies 305

A Mirror of Consciousness: The external memory field 308

A cerebral Trojan Horse 315

Multilayered cultures, multilayered domains of awareness 320

The essential unity of the conscious hierarchy 322.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [345]-362) and index.

ISBN:

0393049507

OCLC:

45376311