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ISBN : B00E0SFM06
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Free download PRETITLE Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain [Unabridged] [Audible Audio Edition] POSTTITLE from mediafire, rapishare, and mirror link
A trailblazing philosopher's exploration of the latest brain science - and its ethical and practical implications.
What happens when we accept that everything we feel and think stems not from an immaterial spirit but from electrical and chemical activity in our brains? In this thought-provoking narrative - drawn from professional expertise as well as personal life experiences - trailblazing neurophilosopher Patricia S. Churchland grounds the philosophy of mind in the essential ingredients of biology. She reflects with humor on how she came to harmonize science and philosophy, the mind and the brain, abstract ideals and daily life.
Offering lucid explanations of the neural workings that underlie identity, she reveals how the latest research into consciousness, memory, and free will can help us reexamine enduring philosophical, ethical, and spiritual questions: What shapes our personalities? How do we account for near-death experiences? How do we make decisions? And why do we feel empathy for others? Recent scientific discoveries also provide insights into a fascinating range of real-world dilemmas - for example, whether an adolescent can be held responsible for his actions and whether a patient in a coma can be considered a self.
Churchland appreciates that the brain-based understanding of the mind can unnerve even our greatest thinkers. At a conference she attended, a prominent philosopher cried out, "I hate the brain; I hate the brain!" But as Churchland shows, he need not feel this way. Accepting that our brains are the basis of who we are liberates us from the shackles of superstition. It allows us to take ourselves seriously as a product of evolved mechanisms, past experiences, and social influences. And it gives us hope that we can fix some grievous conditions, and when we cannot, we can at least understand them with compassion.
Direct download links available for PRETITLE Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain POSTTITLE
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 9 hours and 16 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Gildan Media, LLC
- Audible.com Release Date: July 22, 2013
- Whispersync for Voice: Ready
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00E0SFM06
{PRETITLE} Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain {POSTTITLE}
My appreciation of Patricia Churchland's latest book can be explained through an analogy.
Imagine two kinds of philosophers. One believes that reality consists of the supernatural and the natural. The second type of philosopher believes that reality consists of natural events.
The first offers arguments for taking the supernatural seriously, writing books calling it a "hard problem" that should be addressed. When the second type of philosopher denies this, the first type of philosopher calls that "reductionism." The first type of philosopher typically goes further, arguing that the sciences likely never will give adequate accounts of the supernatural. Sometimes the first type of philosopher even goes so far as to claim that the sciences cannot give an adequate account of natural events. Either way, the first type of philosopher is likely to consider philosophy an alternative to science, to consider it the business of philosophy to explain that which the sciences supposedly cannot explain.
In contrast, the second type of philosopher doesn't take the "hard problem" of the supernatural seriously, and typically believes that dualistic accounts of the supernatural and natural just interfere with our understanding of important topics such as the nature of the self, mortality, morality, and free will. This second type of philosopher considers it wiser to acknowledge the limits of our natural explanations than to turn to such supernatural speculations, and considers it the business of philosophy to identify where this line between the explained and the unexplained currently rests. Given the available evidence, what can we say about the nature of the self, mortality, morality, war, free will? And what are the limits of that knowledge?
Being a young aspiring experimental psychology graduate with a minor in philosophy, I find the work of Patricia Churchland refreshing. A philosopher who actively works in the psychological sciences!? Astounding! About time philosophers with questions about the mind actually look to the experimental results instead of philosophizing in an office chair (no disrespect, most philosophers are brilliant and ask interesting questions, but I feel their method of answering them is unsatisfactory).
Turning to this book specifically, it is marvelously written. It's amazing that she can churn out a very academic text like Neurophilosophy (which despite its age is still worth reading in my opinion, at least the second two thirds of the book) but then write a book like this a layman with no detailed experience in philosophy of mind or psychology can thoroughly enjoy. She interweaves her experiences growing up in a small farm town in rural Canada with the scientific information or philosophical questions she presents, which creates a very comfortable and personal atmosphere in the book. It's very conversational in tone.
It treats a lot of the classical philosophical questions such as, "Is there such a thing as a soul?", "Is there an afterlife?", "What is morality, really?", "Is free will real?", and "What is consciousness?". She also touches on some scientific problems such as the relationship between genetics and aggression and genocide. She definitely comes down on the skeptical of evolutionary psychology side. For instance, she disparages the idea that certain conditions in the past may have (very much unfortunately) favored genes which may build brains predisposed to participate in genocidal actions in certain conditions.
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