The Physiology and Phenomenology of Action Review

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The Physiology and Phenomenology of Action ReviewA neuroscientist and a philosopher get together and attempt to integrate phenomenological descriptions of action with physiological descriptions of the same.
A few points in its favor:
* Good formulation of the dilemma that has led to the effort to integrate phenomenological and scientific descriptions of experience.
* A sensitivity to both philosophical and scientific audiences.
* A thorough outlining of a borderline novel approach to the issue.
A few criticisms:
* Fire the editor and the translator. This book could have been half as long and the sentences half as labored and awkward.
* Better phenomenology and much better physiology (not to mention with much more clarity) in Berthoz's solo effort The Brain's Sense of Movement.
* Consistent equivocation. For example, the concept of anticipation -- central to the thesis of the book -- is referred to as a mode of being and as a necessary precursor to all modes of being and/or perception.
* They display the irritating tendency to attribute the phenomenological insights developed by others to Husserl. For one, Merleau-Ponty (who graciously gave much credit to Husserl for inspiring insights that were probably better attributed to Heidegger) is absolutely abused.
In spite of the weaknesses, I still recommend it for those who are interested in these kinds of questions. It is a step in the right direction.
For slightly better results from the philosopher/neuroscientist formula, see Ways of Seeing (Jacob/Jeannerod) and What Makes Us Think (Changeux/Ricoeur).The Physiology and Phenomenology of Action OverviewThough many philosophers of mind have taken an interest in the great developments in the brain sciences, the interest is seldom reciprocated by scientists, who frequently ignore the contributions philosophers have made to our understanding of the mind and brain. In a rare collaboration, a world famous brain scientist and an eminent philosopher have joined forces in an effort to understand how our brain interacts with the world. Does the brain behave as a calculator, combining sensory data before deciding how to act? Or does it behave as an emulator endowed with innate models of the world, which it corrects according to the results of experiences obtained by the senses? The two authors come from very different backgrounds - the philosopher Jean-Luc Petit belongs to the philosophical tradition of Husserlian phenomenology. Alain Berthoz has long been interested in the physiology of action (movement, posture, decision-making, perception, etc.). Drawing on cutting-edge research from the cognitive sciences, the authors have produced a highly original volume showing how phenomenology and physiology can interact to further our understanding of the brain and the mind.

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Neuropsychology of Art: Neurological, Cognitive and Evolutionary Perspectives (Brain, Behaviour and Cognition) Review

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Neuropsychology of Art: Neurological, Cognitive and Evolutionary Perspectives (Brain, Behaviour and Cognition) ReviewIntrigued by the promise of its title, I zipped over to my local university library as soon as this book came in. Alas, this is not only the last word on the topic, it is not even an adequate summary of recent work.
The author is a neuroscientist herself, but the usual penetrating and synthesizing insight of such specialists seems lacking here. In her chapters on musical art and brain damage, I miss the central focus of this kind of study: the scientist learns about brain function from those who have lost a specific piece of it. Zaidel refers to some interesting studies and historical anecdotes (musicians who sustained this or that kind of brain damage), but I the reader do not learn what I want to from the discussions. I learn details, but the stories and studies do not cumulate in a big picture. Of course modern brain research is still developing, yet other researchers give me more of a sense that they can intuit a big picture beyond what they can clearly see.
Also in the music section, Zaidel's end-of-section paragraph of summary does not include major insights derived from Isabelle Peretz, one of the foremost neuroscientists of music, though Zaidel cites a couple of Peretz' publications in her bibliographies. Peretz gives a significantly better explanation of currently understood brain processing of musical phenomena than Zaidel does, but you wouldn't know from this book. It's not a bad book, just not a great one.Neuropsychology of Art: Neurological, Cognitive and Evolutionary Perspectives (Brain, Behaviour and Cognition) OverviewThe significance of art in human existence has long been a source of puzzlement, fascination, and mystery. In Neuropsychology of Art, Dahlia W. Zaidel explores the brain regions and neuronal systems that support artistic creativity, talent, and appreciation.Both the visual and musical arts are discussed against a neurological background. Evidence from the latest relevant brain research is presented and critically examined in an attempt to clarify the brain-art relationship, language processing and visuo-spatial perception. The consequences of perceptual problems in famous artists, along with data from autistic savants and established artists with brain damage as a result of unilateral stroke, dementia, or other neurological conditions, are brought into consideration and the effects of damage to specific regions of the brain explored. A major compilation of rare cases of artists with brain damage is provided and the cognitive abilities required for the neuropsychology of art reviewed.This book draws on interdisciplinary principles from the biology of art, brain evolution, anthropology, and the cinema through to the question of beauty, language, perception, and hemispheric specialization. It will be of interest to advanced students in neuro-psychology, neuroscience and neurology, to clinicians and all researchers and scholars interested in the workings of the human brain.

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The Psychology of Art and the Evolution of the Conscious Brain (Mit Press/Bradford Books Series in Cognitive Psychology) Review

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The Psychology of Art and the Evolution of the Conscious Brain (Mit Press/Bradford Books Series in Cognitive Psychology) ReviewThis author has a good knowledge of his subject. His earlier book is wonderful with insight. This book is a revamp of that material with a summary of some recent research. For my needs the first book is more to my taste.The Psychology of Art and the Evolution of the Conscious Brain (Mit Press/Bradford Books Series in Cognitive Psychology) OverviewHow did the human brain evolve so that consciousness of art coulddevelop? In The Psychology of Art and the Evolution of the Conscious Brain, RobertSolso describes how a consciousness that evolved for other purposes perceives andcreates art.Drawing on his earlier book Cognition and the Visual Arts and ten yearsof new findings in cognitive research (as well as new ideas in anthropology and arthistory), Solso shows that consciousness developed gradually, with distinctcomponents that evolved over time. One of these components is an adaptiveconsciousness that includes the ability to imagine objects that are not present--anability that allows us to create (and perceive) visual art.Solso describes theneurological, perceptual, and cognitive sequence that occurs when we view art, andthe often inexpressible effect that a work of art has on us. He shows that there aretwo aspects to viewing art: nativistic perception--the synchronicity of eye andbrain that transforms electromagnetic energy into neuro-chemical codes--which is"hard-wired" into the sensory-cognitive system; and directed perception, whichincorporates personal history and knowledge--the entire set of our expectations andpast experiences. Both forms of perception are part of the appreciation of art, andboth are products of the evolution of the conscious brain over hundreds of thousandsof years.Solso also investigates the related issues of neurological and artisticperception of the human face, the effects of visual illusions, and the use ofperspective. The many works of art used as examples are drawn from a wide range ofartistic traditions, from ancient Egypt to Africa and India and the EuropeanRenaissance.

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A Natural History of Seeing: The Art and Science of Vision Review

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A Natural History of Seeing: The Art and Science of Vision Review"A Natural History of Seeing" is not a textbook in optics nor a 'history of science' in the usual sense. Simon Ings is not an ophthalmologist or an academic scientist. He's a writer. But he's also a superbly diligent researcher; the closest comparison would be, I think, to John McPhee, and this densely interesting book reminds me of McPhee's enormous book on the tectonic geology of North America. Ings does report on recent research into the physiology of eyes, human and non-human, but his chief concern is with the semiotics (forgive me that ugly word just once, please) of vision, that is, the role sight plays in intelligence, consciousness, society, history, and evolution. His style is free-ranging, discursive, parenthetical... and highly amusing. Hence the reference to Isaak Walton, though Montaigne might also come to mind. I'd hate to have to use this book as a study trot for an exam, but I haven't read a science-centered essay with such pleasure in a long time.
Although tracing the evolution of the eye - meaning inevitably the human eye - is not Ing's chief purpose, his chapters on evolution will be the most provocative for many readers. Provocative of thought, I hope, rather than emotion. Most readers are aware that the 'perfection' of the eye has been wielded as evidence of "Intelligent Design". How could such a complex organ have evolved by random tiny increments, the argument goes, and what selective advantage would a half-finished eye afford? Darwin himself contributed to this fracas by murmuring in his writings that the evolution of the eye presented him with headaches. But in fact the evolutionary progress of the eye from mere swatches of light-sensitive pigment, to light-sensing skin patches, to various sorts of eyes of diverse capabilities has been fairly well established by now, and offers, if anything, quite strong evidence of the incremental power of biological evolution - conservative, opportunistic, inevitable. What's fascinating in Ing's account is his reversal of the usual question. Instead of asking "how could evolution produce vision?", Ing proposes that we should ask "how has vision affected/effected evolution?" Ing speculates, with plenty of evidence and with appropriate reservations, that vision was one of the prime stimuli for the Cambrian Explosion of animal species, the 'saltation' that produced virtually all of the 'body plans' of the animal kingdom within a few million years. In other words, vision formed "us" before "we" needed eyes.
But Ing ranges farther than a study of origins. He also takes on the subtle balance of vision and self-awareness and the chicken/egg problem of vision or communication. And he doesn't shy away from the age-old philosophical issues of epistemology, that is, of the subjective nature of vision and the dilemma of how we can know that what we see is really what is.
This is a book that requires close reading and concentration. It will exercise your short-term memory, to keep the strands of Ing's discourse woven together. It's the sort of book that gets better the better you require yourself to be as a reader. If you like that level of challenge, it's a wonderful book indeed.A Natural History of Seeing: The Art and Science of Vision Overview
The science, history, philosophy, andmythology of how and why wesee the way we do.
We spend about one-tenth of our waking hourscompletely blind. Only one percent of what wesee is in focus at any one time. There is nodirect fossil evidence for the evolution of theeye. In graceful, accessible prose, novelist and science writer Simon Ings sets out to solve these and other mysteries of seeing.A Natural History of Seeing delves into boththe evolution of sight and the evolution of ourunderstanding of sight. It gives us the naturalscience-the physics of light and the biology ofanimals and humans alike-while also addressingLeonardo's theories of perception in paintingand Homer's confused and strangely limitedsense of color. Panoramic in every sense, itreaches back to the first seers (and to ancientbeliefs that vision is the product of mysterious optic rays) and forward to the promise of modernexperiments in making robots that see. 16 pages of color; 90 black-and-white illustrations

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