Questioning Consciousness

The interplay of imagery, cognition, and emotion in the human brain

Author

Ralph D. Ellis | Clark Atlanta University, Georgia

Paperback – Available

ISBN 9789027251220 (Eur) | EUR 68.00

ISBN 9781556191824 (USA) | USD 102.00

e-Book –

ISBN 9789027283603 | EUR 68.00 | USD 102.00

Questioning Consciousness brings together neuroscientific, psychological and phenomenological research, combining in a readable format recent developments in image research and neurology. It reassesses the mind-body relation and research on 'mental models', abstract concept formation, and acquisition of logical and apparently 'imageless' inference skills. It is argued that to be conscious of an object is essentially to imagine in a habituated way what would happen if we were to perform certain actions in relation to the object; and that mental images fit together to build up abstract concepts. This analysis shows why conscious information processing is so structurally different from — yet interrelated with — non-conscious processing, and how mind and body interrelate as a process to its substratum in the way that a sound wave relates to the medium through which it passes. (Series A)

[Advances in Consciousness Research, 2] 1995. viii, 262 pp.

Publishing status: Available

https://doi.org/10.1075/aicr.2

Table of Contents

Introduction: Differences between Conscious and Non-Conscious Processing: Why they make a Difference | p. 1

1. The Relation between Imaginary and Perceptual Consciousness | p. 33

2. From Images to Concepts | p. 67

3. Images, Logic, and Mental Development | p. 89

4. the Ontological Status of Consciousness | p. 133

5. The Priority of Process over Substratum:Consciousness as an Organic Phenomenon | p. 163

6. Memory, Emotion and Symbolization | p. 195

Conclusion: The Centrality of Subjunctives | p. 229

Index | p. 257

“A considerable potential contribution to the development of consciousness studies and cognitive science, showing us a possible escape route from the dead-end view of cognition as mechanical, unconscious computation with which spurious and quite ineffable 'qualia' just happen to be somehow associated. Not only does the book provide a promising new general theoretical direction, but there are also many points of detail that could be usefully tested, explored, clarified, and reworked by experimental as well as theoretical research.”

Nigel J.T. Thomas, California State University, in Psyche 3(4), October 1997

Cited by

Cited by 19 other publications

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Dafermos, Manolis

2018. The Formation of Cultural-Historical Theory. In Rethinking Cultural-Historical Theory [Perspectives in Cultural-Historical Research, 4], ► pp. 157 ff.

Ellis, Ralph D.

2001. Three elements of causation: Biconditionality, asymmetry, and experimental manipulability. Philosophia 28:1-4 ► pp. 103 ff.

Ellis, Ralph D.

2004. Three arguments against causal indeterminacy. Philosophia 31:3-4 ► pp. 331 ff.

Ellis, Ralph D.

2006. Phenomenology-Friendly Neuroscience: The Return To Merleau-Ponty As Psychologist. Human Studies 29:1 ► pp. 33 ff.

Ellis, Ralph D.

2013. Neuroscience as a Human Science: Integrating Phenomenology and Empiricism in the Study of Action and Consciousness. Human Studies 36:4 ► pp. 491 ff.

Ellis, Ralph D.

2015. Reduction versus Emergence. In The Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology, ► pp. 1 ff.

Gibbs, Jr, Raymond W.

2005. Embodiment and Cognitive Science,

Jager, Colin, R. Paul Yoder, John L. Mahoney, Heather I. Sullivan & Anthony Jarrells

2008. BOOK REVIEWS. European Romantic Review 19:3 ► pp. 289 ff.

Lethin, Anton

2008. Anticipating sensitizes the body. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 7:2 ► pp. 279 ff.

Magnani, Lorenzo & Emanuele Bardone

2008. Sharing Representations and Creating Chances through Cognitive Niche Construction. The Role of Affordances and Abduction. In Communications and Discoveries from Multidisciplinary Data [Studies in Computational Intelligence, 123], ► pp. 3 ff.

Morris, Marla

2002. Ecological consciousness and curriculum. Journal of Curriculum Studies 34:5 ► pp. 571 ff.

Oosterheert, Ida E. & Jan D. Vermunt

2003. Knowledge Construction in Learning to Teach: The role of dynamic sources. Teachers and Teaching 9:2 ► pp. 157 ff.

Reid, Nicholas

2003. Form in Coleridge, and in Perception and Art More Generally. Romanticism on the Net :26

Reid, Nicholas

2003. "That Eternal Language," or Why Coleridge was Right about Imaging and Meaning. Romanticism on the Net :28

Setchi, Rossitza, Nikolaos Lagos & Danny Froud

2007. Computational Imagination: Research Agenda. In AI 2007: Advances in Artificial Intelligence [Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 4830], ► pp. 387 ff.

Thomas, Nigel J.T.

1999. Are Theories of Imagery Theories of Imagination? An Active Perception Approach to Conscious Mental Content. Cognitive Science 23:2 ► pp. 207 ff.

Thomas, Nigel JT

2006. Mental Imagery, Philosophical Issues about. In Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science,

Wiltsher, Nicholas

2019. Characterizing the Imaginative Attitude. Philosophical Papers 48:3 ► pp. 437 ff.

Winkelman, Michael

2004. Understanding Consciousness Using Systems Approaches and Lexical Universals. Anthropology of Consciousness 15:2 ► pp. 24 ff.

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