Susan Blackmore – författare

Now in its fourth edition, this highly popular text is the definitive introduction to consciousness, exploring the key theories and evidence in consciousness studies ranging from neuroscience and psychology to quantum theories and philosophy.

Written by mother and daughter author team Susan Blackmore and Emily Troscianko, the book examines why the term ‘consciousness’ has no recognised definition. It also provides an opportunity to delve into personal intuitions about the self, mind, and consciousness. Featuring comprehensive coverage of all core topics in the field, the book explains why the problem of consciousness is so hard. Theories of attention and free will, altered states of consciousness, and the differences between conscious and unconscious are all explored. Written with students of psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy in mind, this edition has been thoroughly updated throughout, and includes expanded coverage of panpsychism, illusionism, predictive processing, adversarial collaboration, psychedelics, and AI.

Complete with key concept boxes, profiles of well-known thinkers, and questions and activities designed for both independent study and group work, Consciousness provides a complete introduction to this fascinating field, and is essential reading for students of psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience.

Now in its fourth edition, this highly popular text is the definitive introduction to consciousness, exploring the key theories and evidence in consciousness studies ranging from neuroscience and psychology to quantum theories and philosophy.

Written by mother and daughter author team Susan Blackmore and Emily Troscianko, the book examines why the term ‘consciousness’ has no recognised definition. It also provides an opportunity to delve into personal intuitions about the self, mind, and consciousness. Featuring comprehensive coverage of all core topics in the field, the book explains why the problem of consciousness is so hard. Theories of attention and free will, altered states of consciousness, and the differences between conscious and unconscious are all explored. Written with students of psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy in mind, this edition has been thoroughly updated throughout, and includes expanded coverage of panpsychism, illusionism, predictive processing, adversarial collaboration, psychedelics, and AI.

Complete with key concept boxes, profiles of well-known thinkers, and questions and activities designed for both independent study and group work, Consciousness provides a complete introduction to this fascinating field, and is essential reading for students of psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience.

Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand their own mind and to find a spiritual path that is compatible with scienceAs an impressionable young student, Susan Blackmore had an intense, dramatic and life-changing experience, seeming to leave her body and travel the world. With no rational explanation for her out-of-body experience (OBE) she turned to astral projection and the paranormal, but soon despaired of finding answers. Decades later, a Swiss neurosurgeon accidentally discovered the spot in the brain that can induce OBEs and everything changed; this crucial spot is part of the brain''s self-system and when disturbed so is our experience of self. Blackmore leaped back into OBE research and at last began to unravel what had happened to her. Seeing Myself describes her long quest for answers through spirituality, religion, drugs, meditation, philosophy and neuroscience.Anyone can have an OBE, indeed 15 per cent of us have. Even more have experienced sleep paralysis, lucid dreaming and the creepy sense of an invisible presence. At last, with the advent of brain stimulation, fMRI scanning and virtual reality, all these phenomena are beginning to make sense. Long relegated to the very fringes of research, the new science of out-of-body experiences is now contributing to our understanding of consciousness and our very selves.

Qu’est-ce qui distingue les hommes des animaux ? Le langage ? La raison ? La conscience ? La créativité ? Et s’il ne s’agissait là que de leurres ? Et si la spécificité de l’homme, c’était avant tout son incroyable capacité à imiter ses semblables ? Nous sommes, déclare Susan Blackmore, des machines mimétiques contagieuses. Tandis que les gènes utilisent le corps humain dans leur lutte pour la suprématie des caractères physiques, les mèmes colonisent nos cerveaux pour dominer nos comportements, nos habitudes, nos croyances. Or si l’altruisme, la foi, le langage, l’amour, nous sont commandés de l’extérieur, peut-on encore dire que le Moi existe ? Un livre culte qui embrase le monde scientifique international.

Diplômée d’Oxford, psychologue et spécialiste de la conscience, Susan Blackmore enseigne la mémétique à l’université de Bristol, en Angleterre.

Susan Blackmore, née en 1951 à Londres, enseigne à l’université de West of England, à Bristol. Elle est psychologue et physiologue, diplômée d’Oxford. Elle a publié de nombreux articles dans des revues scientifiques ainsi que des magazines. Elle est connue pour ses textes sur la conscience, d’inspiration bouddhiste.

Vårt medvetande är unikt som vetenskapligt ämne. Till att börja med finns det ingen konsensus kring hur det ska definieras. Åsikterna går isär om hur med vilka metoder man bör närma sig det. Under många decennier var medvetandeforskningen bortglömd av den akademiska världen, begravd under behaviorismen och den kognitiva vetenskapen. Nu har den återigen tagit plats på scen som ett relevant område inom vetenskaplig forskning. 

Denna nyutgåva av essäsamlingen från 2016 innehåller en ny text av  dr Christof Koch, som ger en sammanfattning av den utveckling som skett sedan boken publicerades första gången. Den har också ett uppdaterat förord av Kurt Almqvist. Boken är en milstolpe i den vetenskapliga forskningen kring medvetande och utkommer enbart på engelska.