The Ancient Origins of Consciousness

How the Brain Created Experience

Todd E. Feinberg , Jon M. Mallatt

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English

Massachusetts Inst of Tec
08 September 2017

Cognition & cognitive psychology; Mathematics & Sciences; Evolution

Series: The Ancient Origins of Consciousness

How is consciousness created? When did it first appear on Earth, and how did it evolve? What constitutes consciousness, and which animals can be said to be sentient?

In this book, Todd Feinberg and Jon Mallatt draw on recent scientific findings to answer these questions - and to tackle the most fundamental question about the nature of consciousness: how does the material brain create subjective experience?

After assembling a list of the biological and neurobiological features that seem responsible for consciousness, and considering the fossil record of evolution, Feinberg and Mallatt argue that consciousness appeared much earlier in evolutionary history than is commonly assumed. About 520 to 560 million years ago, they explain, the great "Cambrian explosion" of animal diversity produced the first complex brains, which were accompanied by the first appearance of consciousness; simple reflexive behaviors evolved into a unified inner world of subjective experiences. From this they deduce that all vertebrates are and have always been conscious - not just humans and other mammals, but also every fish, reptile, amphibian, and bird. Considering invertebrates, they find that arthropods (including insects and probably crustaceans) and cephalopods (including the octopus) meet many of the criteria for consciousness.

The obvious and conventional wisdom - shattering implication is that consciousness evolved simultaneously but independently in the first vertebrates and possibly arthropods more than half a billion years ago. Combining evolutionary, neurobiological, and philosophical approaches allows Feinberg and Mallatt to offer an original solution to the "hard problem" of consciousness.

By: Todd E. Feinberg , Jon M. Mallatt
Imprint: Massachusetts Inst of Tec
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 24mm
ISBN: 9780262534604
ISBN 10: 0262534606
Series: The Ancient Origins of Consciousness
Pages: 392
Publication Date: 08 September 2017
Recommended Age: From 18 years
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Todd E. Feinberg is Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. Clinical Associate Professor in the WWAMI Medical Program at The University of Idaho and the University of Washington.

Reviews for The Ancient Origins of Consciousness: How the Brain Created Experience

[Feinberg and Mallatt's] neuroevolutionary approach is the best we will have if we are to respect the power of our own human consciousness and also to locate it within a biological framework. * The Guardian *

Winner of <PrizeName>Honorable Mention, 2017 PROSE Awards, Biological Science</PrizeName> 2017
Winner of Honorable Mention, 2017 PROSE Awards, Biological Science 2017
Winner of Honorable Mention, 2017 PROSE Awards, Biological Science</PrizeName> 2017