On the Nature of Consciousness: Cognitive, Phenomenological, and Transpersonal PerspectivesThis book pursues an inquiry into consciousness that ranges from ancient Greece to empirical neuropsychology to the experiential traditions of introspection and meditation. Harry Hunt begins by reviewing the renewed interest in ordinary consciousness and in altered and transpersonal states of consciousness. He then presents competing views of consciousness in cognition, neurophysiology, and animal psychology, developing a view of perceptual awareness as the core of consciousness potentially shared across species. Hunt next brings together the separate strands of neo-realist approaches to perception and thought, the phenomenology of imagery and synesthesia, and cognitive theories of metaphor. He develops an original cognitive theory of mystical experience that combines Buddhist meditative descriptions of consciousness and Heidegger's sense of Being. In relating both of these to James J. Gibson's views on perception, he avoids the various "new age" supernaturalisms that so often blight the transpersonal literature. Other themes include the relation between consciousness and time; the common perceptual-metaphoric rooting of parallels between consciousness and modern physics; and the communal basis of transpersonal states as reflected in a sociology of mysticism and a reinterpretation of parapsychological research. |
From inside the book
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Page v
... metaphor A circumambulation of consciousness , courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary Some philosophical reservations about the concept of consciousness : Wittgenstein and Heidegger 2 Cognition and Consciousness 3 26 The renewed ...
... metaphor A circumambulation of consciousness , courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary Some philosophical reservations about the concept of consciousness : Wittgenstein and Heidegger 2 Cognition and Consciousness 3 26 The renewed ...
Page vi
... Metaphor Without , Mirror Within 115 The idea of phenomenology in James and its multiple influence The stream of consciousness as self - transforming dialogue Stream as metaphor - stream as reality The later James on the inseparability ...
... Metaphor Without , Mirror Within 115 The idea of phenomenology in James and its multiple influence The stream of consciousness as self - transforming dialogue Stream as metaphor - stream as reality The later James on the inseparability ...
Page vii
... Metaphor / Reality Inward and outward reflections of the dynamics of flow and turbulence Archetypes of experience : Metaphor or world ? PART IV : THE IMAGISTIC BASES OF CONSCIOUSNESS : ORDINARY AND NONORDINARY , CONTEMPORARY AND ANCIENT ...
... Metaphor / Reality Inward and outward reflections of the dynamics of flow and turbulence Archetypes of experience : Metaphor or world ? PART IV : THE IMAGISTIC BASES OF CONSCIOUSNESS : ORDINARY AND NONORDINARY , CONTEMPORARY AND ANCIENT ...
Page viii
... Metaphor and the fluctuating line between consciousness and world The space - times of perception and the origin of modern physical theory Drawing experience : Some mutual limitations in theoretical physics and theoretical psychology ...
... Metaphor and the fluctuating line between consciousness and world The space - times of perception and the origin of modern physical theory Drawing experience : Some mutual limitations in theoretical physics and theoretical psychology ...
Contents
CONSCIOUSNESS IN CONTEXT PSYCHOLOGY PHILOSOPHY CULTURE | 1 |
Cognition and Consciousness | 26 |
HOW MUCH CAN NEUROPHYSIOLOGY TELL | 49 |
Neural Zones of Convergence and Consciousness Awareness Systems | 73 |
The Emergence of Primary Sentience in Protozoa and SelfReferential | 93 |
THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF CONSCIOUSNESS | 113 |
THE IMAGISTIC BASES OF CONSCIOUSNESS ORDINARY AND NONORDINARY CONTEMPORARY | 139 |
Phenomenology and Some Limitations of Laboratory Research | 161 |
TRANSPERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND THE REFLEXIVITY OF HUMAN EXISTENCE | 197 |
A Logos of Sentience | 220 |
CONSCIOUSNESS AND REALITY | 239 |
Physics Consciousness and the Primacy of Perception | 257 |
CONCLUDING SOCIOLOGICAL POSTSCRIPT | 277 |
Notes | 297 |
References | 313 |
349 | |
Common terms and phrases
abstract action potentials actually animal aspects awareness basic becomes behavior brain Buddhism capacity chakra chimpanzees cognitive psychology common complex concept connectionism consciousness contemporary creatures cross-modal translation dimension direct dream dynamics emergent experience experiential experimental expression felt meaning flow form constants forms Freud's function Gibson's Heidegger Heidegger's hemisphere human imagery imaginative immediate implied introspective James Jung kinesthetic language later located Longchenpa lucid dreaming meditative metaphor mind mirroring motile multiple mystical ness neural neuronal nonlinear ongoing openness organization patterns perception perceptual modalities perspective phenomenology physical potential presence-openness presentational principles processes protozoa psychedelic drugs psychology reality recognition reflect self-awareness self-referential semantic sense sensitivity sensory sensus communis sentient separate social spatial specific spontaneous stream structure studies subjects suggested symbolic cognition synesthesias synesthetic synthesis tachistoscopic template temporality theory thought tion tonic immobility tradition transformations transpersonal transpersonal experience Transpersonal Psychology unconscious visual
References to this book
Innovation and Visualization: Trajectories, Strategies, and Myths Amy Ione No preview available - 2005 |