The crucible of consciousness an integrated theory of mind and brain - Torey, Zoltan (MIT Press, 2009)
"A Bradford book"--P. [4] of cover. - Originally published: Melbourne ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1999. With new foreword
Includes bibliographical references (p. [213]-229) and index
Foreword / by Daniel C Dennett -- Preface -- Perspective. The problem ; The path to the solution ; Some technical aspects -- The emergence of the human brain. The upgrading of the prehuman brain ; Modifications that underlie language ; The internal representation of the outside world -- Adaptive changes for speech and thought. Dual excitation and the oscillation of attention ; The building blocks of language -- The evolution of language. The breakthrough to protolanguage ; Secondary language evolution ; Using the language instrument ; Language and the limits of abstraction -- More about language. The perceptual basis of language ; The acquisition of language by the child ; Ape talk : a tip without an iceberg -- Self-accessibility. Problems of self-detection ; Elements of self-detection -- Reflection: the key to human awareness. Double-stranded reentrance ; The mechanism of reflective awareness ; Self-awareness -- The mind-system. The new identity : brain to mind ; The alchemy of self-deception ; Problems with self-conceptualization ; The "freedom" of the system : fact and fiction about the mind -- The mind versus the computer. Formalism and the logic of misconstruction ; Model formation and the role of semantics ; Society and the shaping of the mind -- Evolution : the model of the loaded dice. The watershed of insights ; Prejudice and counterprejudice -- Between the quantum and the cosmos. A range of perspectives ; Light at the end of the tunnel
This text is an interdisciplinary examination of the evolutionary breakthroughs that rendered the brain accessible to itself