This book ties the historical work of Descartes and his successors to current findings in the neuroscience of consciousness, providing a historical and critical overview of interdisciplinary investigations on the brain, consciousness and cognition.It is broadly understood that contemporary hypotheses and theories of consciousness are rooted in a debate which started with the scientific revolution. However, this is the first historical survey to focus on the continuities and discontinuities between early thinkers on the subject, and modern researchers in physiology, psychology, and neuroscience.The book introduces and analyzes early discussions of consciousness, among them Metaphysical alternatives to scientific explanations of consciousness and its connection to brain activityClaims about the possibilities and limits of neuroscientific accounts of consciousness and cognitionThe proposition of a “non-reductive naturalism” concerning phenomenal consciousness as well as cognitive normsThe author assesses the contributions of early philosophers and scientists on brain and consciousness, among them·         Descartes·         Malebranche·         Locke·         Maupertuis·         Kant·         Fechner·         Helmholtz·         du Bois-ReymondThe work of these pioneers is related to that of modern researchers in physiology, psychology, neuroscience and philosophy of mind, including Freud, Hilary Putnam, Herbert Feigel, Francis Crick and Christof Koch, and others. This book benefits researchers and advanced students in cognition, psychology, neuroscience, consciousness and cognition.weiterlesen