Actually, not a history of the mind, but a theory of consciousness
- and an amazingly parsimonious theory at that. Consciousness,
contends experimental psychologist Humphrey, is nothing but the
having of sensations - sensations that have become internalized and
are the origin of "actions" that transform the universe. Looking at
the setting sun over Cambridge (England), Humphrey says, "I am
representing the light arriving at my retina aa a circular patch of
redness happening to me and aa a fiery orb existing in the galaxy."
All the while he is living in a continuous present, a persistence
of time accompanied by reverberating cerebral "sentiments." To
arrive at this theory, Humphrey begins with the hypothesis that
sensation and perception are separate - that there are two
independent channels in the brain rather than a serial order in
which, for example, perception follows sensation. Humphrey's
championing of the separatist approach involves a discourse on
evolution aa well aa the elaboration of experiments in which blind
subjects (i.e., devoid of visual sensations) learned visual
perception by virtue of having a tiny TV camera image translated to
vibrations on a patch of skin. All this is very interesting, and
smartly, wittily told: Humphrey has a marvelous repertoire of
quotes and anecdotes that make for pleasurable reading. But is the
theory convincing? The reader armed with perceptual memory, the
daydreamer, and the mind engaged in mentally providing a theorem
are not living in a sensory mode engaged in contact with the world,
but all enjoy some degree of consciousness. Moreover, what can be
said of neuroscience, with its cells and circuitry? If there are
dual circuits separating sensation from perception, let's see them.
Only then, perhaps, could one argue that Humphrey has developed a
new theory of perception - not a touchy-feely one - to explain
consciousness. (Kirkus Reviews)
This book is a tour-de-force on how human consciousness may have evolved. From the "phantom pain" experienced by people who have lost their limbs to the uncanny faculty of "blindsight," Humphrey argues that raw sensations are central to all conscious states and that consciousness must have evolved, just like all other mental faculties, over time from our ancestorsodily responses to pain and pleasure. '
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