This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1849 edition. Excerpt: ...between the soul and instinct, since there is nothing in Nature that denotes superflnity. Hence, also, it is that instinct is in full operation at the birth of animals, when there is no display of it in the human race, and while the soul is only slowly developed in its operations. And thus do the physiological and final causes concur together. And now comes up the remarkable anatomical fact, which goes, also, to the same conclusion, (although it might be perverted if left without its physiological solution, ) that instinctive acts are irrespective of the progressive stages of cerebral development, while those of the human mind wait for that development. This corresponds, in respect to animals, exactly with what we know of the perfection of the functions of all other parts at all stages of life, and with what we have seen of the objects of reason and ofinstinct, since instinct must be in early operation for the exigencies of organic life, while reason, in the complexities of its functions, is only ready, in a general sense, to act when the brain shall have acquired sufiicient maturity for those endless physical impressions which come through the medium of the senses, and from which the soul gathers its earliest treasures of knowledge. This, then, is the relative aspect in which must be regarded the correspondence between the progres sive development or hardening of the brain and the operations of the mind in early life; the development or maturity of the brain having as well a reference to the multifarious physical contributions from the senses, as to its co-operation with the soul in acts of intellection. The soul, therefore, may be, abstractedly considered, in as perfect a state in infancy as at any stage of life; and thus does the..

This volume of essays examines the problem of mind, looking at how the problem has appeared to neuroscientists (in the widest sense) from classical antiquity through to contemporary times. Beginning with a look at ventricular neuropsychology in antiquity, this book goes on to look at Spinozan ideas on the links between mind and body, Thomas Willis and the foundation of Neurology, Hooke’s mechanical model of the mind and Joseph Priestley’s approach to the mind-body problem. The volume offers a chapter on the 19th century Ottoman perspective on western thinking. Further chapters trace the work of nineteenth century scholars including George Henry Lewes, Herbert Spencer and Emil du Bois-Reymond. The book covers significant work from the twentieth century, including an examination of Alfred North Whitehead and the history of consciousness, and particular attention is given to the development of quantum consciousness. Chapters on slavery and the self and the development of an understanding of Dualism bring this examination up to date on the latest 21st century work in the field. At the heart of this book is the matter of how we define the problem of consciousness itself: has there been any progress in our understanding of the working of mind and brain? This work at the interface between science and the humanities will appeal to experts from across many fields who wish to develop their understanding of the problem of consciousness, including scholars of Neuroscience, Behavioural Science and the History of Science.

The Dictionary of Early American Philosophers, which contains over 400 entries by nearly 300 authors, provides an account of philosophical thought in the United States and Canada between 1600 and 1860. The label of "philosopher" has been broadly applied in this Dictionary to intellectuals who have made philosophical contributions regardless of academic career or professional title. Most figures were not academic philosophers, as few such positions existed then, but they did work on philosophical issues and explored philosophical questions involved in such fields as pedagogy, rhetoric, the arts, history, politics, economics, sociology, psychology, medicine, anthropology, religion, metaphysics, and the natural sciences. Each entry begins with biographical and career information, and continues with a discussion of the subject's writings, teaching, and thought. A cross-referencing system refers the reader to other entries. The concluding bibliography lists significant publications by the subject, posthumous editions and collected works, and further reading about the subject.