Sale

Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philos

Name: Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philos
Brand: ADLE International
SKU: Columbia Univ Pr
Price: 19.95 USD
Availability: InStock

Sale price $19.95 Regular price ~~$22.95~~

Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy

Paperback – August 8, 2017

by Evan Thompson (Author), Stephen Batchelor (Foreword)

A renowned philosopher of the mind, also known for his groundbreaking work on Buddhism and cognitive science, Evan Thompson combines the latest neuroscience research on sleep, dreaming, and meditation with Indian and Western philosophy of mind, casting new light on the self and its relation to the brain.

Thompson shows how the self is a changing process, not a static thing. When we are awake we identify with our body, but if we let our mind wander or daydream, we project a mentally imagined self into the remembered past or anticipated future. As we fall asleep, the impression of being a bounded self distinct from the world dissolves, but the self reappears in the dream state. If we have a lucid dream, we no longer identify only with the self within the dream. Our sense of self now includes our dreaming self, the "I" as dreamer. Finally, as we meditate―either in the waking state or in a lucid dream―we can observe whatever images or thoughts arise and how we tend to identify with them as "me." We can also experience sheer awareness itself, distinct from the changing contents that make up our image of the self.

Contemplative traditions say that we can learn to let go of the self, so that when we die we can witness its dissolution with equanimity. Thompson weaves together neuroscience, philosophy, and personal narrative to depict these transformations, adding uncommon depth to life's profound questions. Contemplative experience comes to illuminate scientific findings, and scientific evidence enriches the vast knowledge acquired by contemplatives.

About the Author

Evan Thompson is professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is the author ofColour Vision: A Study in Cognitive Science and the Philosophy of Perception (1995) and Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind (2007) and coauthor of The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience (1991, revised edition, 2017).

Product details

Paperback: 496 pages
Publisher: Columbia University Press; Reprint edition (August 8, 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0231136951
ISBN-13: 978-0231136952
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.2 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds

Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philos

Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy

Paperback – August 8, 2017

About the Author

Product details

You might also like