Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction

Consciousness remains a central mystery in science, with debates over how the brain generates subjective experience, personal identity, free will, and whether consciousness itself is an illusion. Advances in brain science involve biologists, neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers. This work clarifies major theories and arguments, covering the construction of self in the brain, mechanisms of attention, neural correlates of consciousness, and the physiology of altered states. It highlights the rapid pace of neuroscience discoveries.

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Abstract

Consciousness is ‘the last great mystery for science’. How can a physical brain create our experience of the world? What creates our identity? Do we really have free will? Could consciousness itself be an illusion? Exciting new developments in brain science are continuing these debates, and the field has now expanded to include biologists, neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers. Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction clarifies the potentially confusing arguments, and the major theories, whilst also outlining the amazing pace of neuroscience discoveries. Covering areas such as construction of self in the brain, mechanisms of attention, neural correlates of consciousness, and physiology of altered states of consciousness, it highlights the latest findings.