Event overview
5048
Reflexive Monism and the psychophysical universe
Classical dualist ways of viewing the relation of consciousness to the brain split human nature in ways that make it difficult to put it back to together again. However, materialist reductionism conflicts with the evidence of everyday conscious experience. Neither approach provides a satisfactory understanding of the causal interactions between consciousness and brain. Reflexive monism provides a non-dualist, non-reductionist alternative, treating consciousness and brain as two, intimately related aspects of psychophysical mind. The human mind is, in turn, embodied and embedded in a wider psychophysical universe—a view that has intriguing convergences both with the views of Gustaf Fechner, the founder of psychological science and Wolfgang Pauli, one of the founders of quantum mechanics.
Max Velmans is currently Emeritus Professor at Goldsmiths, and Visiting Professor of Consciousness Studies at the University of Plymouth. He has over 90 publications on consciousness including Understanding Consciousness (2000), which was short listed for the British Psychological Society book of the year award in 2001 and 2002. Other publications include The Science of Consciousness: Psychological, Neuropsychological and Clinical Reviews (1996), Investigating Phenomenal Consciousness: New Methodologies and Maps (2000), How Could Conscious Experiences Affect Brains? (2003), and the Blackwell Companion to Consciousness (2007). He was a co-founder and, throughout 2004 to 2006, Chair of the Consciousness and Experiential Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society.
The Whitehead Lectures in Cognition, Computation and Culture
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Nov 2008 | 4:00pm - 5:00pm |
Accessibility
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