The Conscious Mind
by David J. Chalmers | 
Would You Kill the Fat Man?
by David Edmonds | 
From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds
by Daniel C. Dennett | 
Surfaces and Essences
by Douglas Hofstadter | 
Matter and Consciousness
by Paul M. Churchland | 
Matter and Memory
by Henri Bergson | 
An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding
by David Hume | 
Beast and Man
by Mary Midgley | 
The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten
by Julian Baggini | 
The Seven Mysteries of Life
by Guy Murchie | 
The Undiscovered Self
by C. G. Jung | 
Bad Astronomy
by Philip Plait | 
Irrational Man
by William Barrett | 
Consciousness Explained
by Daniel C. Dennett | 
The Act of Creation
by Arthur Koestler | 
Critical Path
by R. Buckminster Fuller | 
Labyrinths of Reason
by William Poundstone | 
Creative Evolution
by Henri Bergson | 
I Am A Strange Loop
by Douglas Hofstadter | 
Mind and Nature
by Gregory Bateson |
Conversations on Consciousness is just that - a series of twenty lively and challenging conversations between Sue Blackmore and some of the world's leading philosophers and scientists. Written in a colloquial and engaging style the book records the conversations Sue had when she met these influential thinkers, whether at conferences in Arizona or Antwerp, or in their labs or homes in Oxford or San Diego. The conversations bring out their very different personalities and styles and reveal awealth of fascinating detail about their theories and beliefs. Why is consciousness such a special and difficult issue for twenty-first century science? Sue, herself a researcher into this controversial and difficult topic, begins by asking each of her colleagues this simple question and is immediately plunged into the depths of the debate: How do the subjective experiences we call consciousness arise from the physical brain? Is this even the right question to ask? Can zombies - people who behave outwardly just like others but have no inner mental life - exist? What can dreams tell us about consciousness? Should we all be learning to meditate? Do we have free will, and if not is it possible to live without it? With an introduction setting out the broad structure of the debate on consciousness, and an extensive glossary, this book provides an engaging and accessible account of the most challenging problem of all, through the words of some of the leading figures involved in seekingto solve it.