What is it about?
This review dissects the author's claim that "... a consciousness of the self (distinct from animal awareness) is the result of language acquisition unique to humans after a new neural subsystem - the motor wiring of our speech areas in the neocortex - occurred in Homo sapiens."
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Why is it important?
The study of consciousness has been the province of philosophy for millennia; and, around the middle of the 20th century, linguists and psychologists. The Conscious Mind represents this latter strand. This review places the debate in the context of today's neurobiological experiments. It additionally questions the author's claim that language represents a 'break' in mammalian evolution—being the capacity of Homo sapiens exclusively.
Perspectives
As an undergraduate, my take-away from Physiology 101 was: Can our brain ever understand our brain? But the mind was probably not in the thoughts of my young brain. Even less the examination of the self in Buddhism's meditation practice: which came to the same conclusion as that of quantum physicists—that reality is an empty space. See my recent review of The Monastery and the Microscope, on my website, Eyes-wide.com
Cecilia Wong
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This page is a summary of: The Conscious MindThe Conscious Mind by Zoltan Torey. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, U.S.A., and London, U.K., 2014. 208 pp. Trade. ISBN: 9780262527101., Leonardo, October 2015, The MIT Press,
DOI: 10.1162/leon_r_01134.
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