Brain-Mind: From Neurons to Consciousness and Creativity (Treatise on Mind and Society)

by Paul Thagard

Overview

How do brains make minds? Paul Thagard presents a unified, brain-based theory of cognition and emotion with applications to the most complex kinds of thinking, right up to consciousness and creativity. Neural mechanisms are used to explain mental operations for analogy, action, intention, language, and the self. Brain-Mind develops a brilliant account of mental operations using promising new ideas from theoretical neuroscience. Single neurons cannot do much by themselves, but groups of neurons work together to accomplish powerful kinds of mental representation, including concepts, images, and rules. Minds enable people to perceive, imagine, solve problems, understand, learn, speak, reason, create, and be emotional and conscious. Competing explanations of how the mind works have identified it as soul, computer, brain, dynamical system, or social construction. This book explains minds in terms of interacting mechanisms operating at multiple levels, including the social, mental, neural, and molecular. Unification comes from systematic application of Chris Eliasmith's powerful Semantic Pointer Architecture, a highly original synthesis of neural network and symbolic ideas about how the mind works. This book belongs to a trio that includes Mind-Society: From Brains to Social Sciences and Professions and Natural Philosophy: From Social Brains to Knowledge, Reality, Morality, and Beauty. They can be read independently, but together they make up a Treatise on Mind and Society that provides a unified and comprehensive treatment of the cognitive sciences, social sciences, professions, and humanities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190686383
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/30/2019
Series:	Oxford Series on Cognitive Models and Architectures
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Paul Thagard is a distinguished philosopher and cognitive scientist who has written many books, including The Brain and the Meaning of Life (Princeton University Press, 2010) and The Cognitive Science of Science (MIT Press, 2012). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Cognitive Science Society, and the Association for Psychological Science.

Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgments 1. What are Minds? Why Minds Matter What are Minds? Cognitive Science Representations and Processes Mechanisms Looking Ahead Summary Notes to Chapter 1: Minds 2. How Brains Make Minds Why Brains Matter to Mind and Society Thinking with Cells Neurons Neural Groups Combining Neural Representations Semantic Pointers The Semantic Pointer Architecture Innateness versus Learning Summary and Discussion Appendix: Details and Comparisons Notes to Chapter 2: Brains 3. Perception and Imagery Why Perception and Imagery Matter to Mind and Society From Sensation to Perception to Imagery External Senses Internal Senses Imagery Mental Mechanisms for Imagery Neural Mechanisms for Imagery Uses of Imagery Summary and Discussion Notes to Chapter 3: Perception 4. Concepts Why Concepts Matter to Mind and Society Theories of Concepts Neural Mechanisms for Concepts Uses of Concepts Summary and Discussion Notes to Chapter 4: Concepts 5. Rules Why Rules Matter to Mind and Society Mental Mechanisms for Rules Neural Mechanisms for Rules Uses of Rules Summary and Discussion Notes to Chapter 5: Rules 6. Analogies Why Analogies Matter to Mind and Society Mental Mechanisms for Analogy Neural Mechanisms for Analogy Uses of Analogies Summary and Discussion Notes to Chapter 6: Analogies 7. Emotions Why Emotions Matter to Mind and Society Psychological Theories of Emotion Neural Mechanisms for Emotions Uses of Emotions How Emotions Change Summary and Discussion Notes to Chapter 7: Emotions 8. Consciousness Why Consciousness Matters to Mind and Society Psychological Theories of Consciousness Neural Mechanisms for Consciousness Uses of Consciousness Summary and Discussion Notes to Chapter 8: Consciousness 9. Action and Intention Why Actions Matter to Mind and Society Psychological Theories of Action, Intention, and Will Neural Mechanisms for Action and Intention Uses of Action and Intention The Will Summary and Discussion Notes to Chapter 9: Action 10. Language Why Language Matters to Mind and Society Syntax First: Chomsky Integrating Syntax, Semantics, and Phonology Meaning Conceptual Blending Metaphor Innateness and Language Learning Summary and Discussion Notes to Chapter 10: Language 11. Creativity Why Creativity Matters to Mind and Society What is Creativity? Images Concepts Rules Procedural Creativity Analogies and Metaphors Emotions Case Study: CRISPR/Cas9 Summary and Discussion Notes to Chapter 11: Creativity 12. The Self Why the Self Matters to Mind and Society What is the Self? Semantic Pointers for Self-Representation Semantic Pointer Mechanisms for Self-Effecting and Self-Changing Multilevel Systems Molecular Mechanisms Social Mechanisms Summary and Discussion Notes to Chapter 12: Self References Index

Editorial Reviews

"With his deep background in cognitive science and philosophy of mind, Thagard is able to sketch a bird's eye view of the mind-encompassing cognition, emotion, and consciousness-while staying grounded in a computational theory of neural organization."

— Keith J. Holyoak, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles

"Paul Thagard's Brain-Mind is an extremely ambitious attempt (largely successful, I believe), to provide a unified, neurally-based, account of how the Brain creates the Mind. Using Chris Eliasmith's Semantic Pointer Architecture and related ideas, Thagard shows how all the various aspects of the mind from lower level phenomena, such as Perception, to the highest levels of cognition, such as Language and the Self, can be realized in terms of a set of unifying principles based on the Semantic Pointer Architecture and its grounding in neural mechanisms. It provides a strong intellectual foundation for the even more ambitious other volumes (Mind-Society and Natural Philosophy) of his three-volume Treatise on Mind and Society. Thagard takes us on a mind-expanding journey."

— Stephen Read, Mendel B. Silberberg Professor of Social Psychology, University of Southern California

"A readable overview of the philosophy of cognitive science and its goal of establishing mechanistic or computational models of cognition and emotion."

— Choice

From the Publisher