We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2011
Consciousness as a natural phenomenon. Its definition. Difficulties of the problem. Its relation to the life of the soul. Our human consciousness. Various theories: I. Anthropistic theory (Descartes). II. Neurological theory (Darwin). III. Animal theory (Schopenhauer). IV. Biological theory (Fechner). V. Cellular theory (Fritz Schultze). VI. Atomistic theory. Monistic and dualistic theories. Transcendental character of consciousness. The Ignorabimus verdict of Du Bois-Reymond. Physiology of consciousness. Discovery of the organs of thought by Flechsig. Pathology. Double and intermittent consciousness. Ontogeny of consciousness: modifications at different ages. Phylogeny of consciousness. Formation of concepts.
No phenomenon of the life of the soul is so wonderful and so variously interpreted as consciousness. The most contradictory views are current to-day, as they were 2,000 years ago, not only with regard to the nature of this psychic function and its relation to the body, but even as to its diffusion in the organic world and its origin and development. It is more responsible than any other psychic faculty for the erroneous idea of an “immaterial soul” and the belief in “personal immortality”; many of the gravest errors that still dominate even our modern civilization may be traced to it. Hence it is that I have entitled consciousness “the central mystery of psychology”: it is the strong citadel of all mystic and dualistic errors, before whose ramparts the best equipped efforts of reason threaten to miscarry.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
