The Astonishing Hypothesis
ISBN 9780684801582 | |
The Astonishing Hypothesis is a 1994 book by scientist
Synopsis
The Astonishing Hypothesis posits that "a person's mental activities are entirely due to the behavior of
Rather than attempting to cover all the aspects of consciousness (
The later chapters of the book synthesize many of the points made earlier about the visual system into a unified framework, although Crick recognises exceptions to his proposed framework. Also, here he takes the opportunity to make suggestions for further experiments that could provide empirical basis for further understanding about human consciousness and includes a brief addendum on several topics he glossed over, like
Background and response
Crick had discussed the relationship between science and religion in his earlier book
Criticism
Crick's decidedly materialistic approach to explaining consciousness has many detractors both in the neuroscientific[who?] and philosophical[who?] communities. Some, such as neurologist and Nobel Laureate Gerald Edelman believe that neural Darwinism is a more satisfactory explanation for the emergence of complex intelligence in humans. Another school of thought, this one largely made up of those outside of scientific disciplines, consider consciousness to either be simply beyond the possibility of explanation or at least dependent on some qualities that are not simply physical (i.e. molecules, etc.). Lastly, those who support quantum theory of mind also disagree with how Crick simplifies the workings of the brain to only classical physics.[2]
See also
- Consciousness–matter dualism
- China Brain
- Epiphenomenalism
- Physicalism
References
- ISBN 0-684-80158-2.
- PMID 8066427.
External links
- "Review of The Astonishing Hypothesis" @Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (theASSC.org)