Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self

Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self

by Marilynne Robinson
ISBN-10:
0300171471
ISBN-13:
9780300171471
Pub. Date:
06/28/2011
Publisher:
Yale University Press
ISBN-10:
0300171471
ISBN-13:
9780300171471
Pub. Date:
06/28/2011
Publisher:
Yale University Press
Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self

Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self

by Marilynne Robinson
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Overview

One of our best contemporary writers explores the tension between science and religion and reveals how our concept of mind determines how we understand and value human nature and human civilization
 
“These impassioned pages require and reward very close attention.”—Michael Dirda, Washington Post
 
In this ambitious book, acclaimed writer Marilynne Robinson applies her astute intellect to some of the most vexing topics in the history of human thought—science, religion, and consciousness. Crafted with the same care and insight as her award-winning novels, Absence of Mind challenges postmodern atheists who crusade against religion under the banner of science. In Robinson’s view, scientific reasoning does not denote a sense of logical infallibility, as thinkers like Richard Dawkins might suggest. Instead, in its purest form, science represents a search for answers. It engages the problem of knowledge, an aspect of the mystery of consciousness, rather than providing a simple and final model of reality.
 
By defending the importance of individual reflection, Robinson celebrates the power and variety of human consciousness in the tradition of William James. She explores the nature of subjectivity and considers the culture in which Sigmund Freud was situated and its influence on his model of self and civilization. Through keen interpretations of language, emotion, science, and poetry, Absence of Mind restores human consciousness to its central place in the religion-science debate.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780300171471
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication date: 06/28/2011
Series: Terry Lectures Series
Pages: 176
Sales rank: 664,212
Product dimensions: 5.00(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

About The Author
Marilynne Robinson is the author of Gilead, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for fiction; Home, winner of the 2009 Orange Prize for Fiction; and Housekeeping, winner of the 1982 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for first fiction. She is also the author of two previous books of nonfiction, Mother Country and The Death of Adam. She teaches at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and lives in Iowa City.

Hometown:

Iowa City, Iowa

Date of Birth:

November 26, 1943

Place of Birth:

Sandpoint, Idaho

Education:

B.A., Brown University, 1966

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Chapter 1 On Human Nature 1

Chapter 2 The Strange History of Altruism 31

Chapter 3 The Freudian Self 77

Chapter 4 Thinking Again 109

Notes 137

Bibliography 141

Index 145

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