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A new theory about the origins of consciousness that finds learning
to be the driving force in the evolutionary transition to basic
consciousness. What marked the evolutionary transition from
organisms that lacked consciousness to those with consciousness-to
minimal subjective experiencing, or, as Aristotle described it,
"the sensitive soul"? In this book, Simona Ginsburg and Eva
Jablonka propose a new theory about the origin of consciousness
that finds learning to be the driving force in the transition to
basic consciousness. Using a methodology similar to that used by
scientists when they identified the transition from non-life to
life, Ginsburg and Jablonka suggest a set of criteria, identify a
marker for the transition to minimal consciousness, and explore the
far-reaching biological, psychological, and philosophical
implications. After presenting the historical, neurobiological, and
philosophical foundations of their analysis, Ginsburg and Jablonka
propose that the evolutionary marker of basic or minimal
consciousness is a complex form of associative learning, which they
term unlimited associative learning (UAL). UAL enables an organism
to ascribe motivational value to a novel, compound,
non-reflex-inducing stimulus or action, and use it as the basis for
future learning. Associative learning, Ginsburg and Jablonka argue,
drove the Cambrian explosion and its massive diversification of
organisms. Finally, Ginsburg and Jablonka propose symbolic language
as a similar type of marker for the evolutionary transition to
human rationality-to Aristotle's "rational soul."
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