Process Approaches to Consciousness in Psychology, Neuroscience, and Philosophy of Mind

Opens a dialogue between process philosophy and contemporary consciousness studies.

This collection opens a dialogue between process philosophy and contemporary consciousness studies. Approaching consciousness from diverse disciplinary perspectives-philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, neuropathology, psychotherapy, biology, animal ethology, and physics-the contributors offer empirical and philosophical support for a model of consciousness inspired by the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947). Whitehead''s model is developed in ways he could not have anticipated to show how it can advance current debates beyond well-known sticking points. This has trenchant consequences for epistemology and suggests fresh and promising new perspectives on such topics as the mind-body problem, the neurobiology of consciousness, animal consciousness, the evolution of consciousness, panpsychism, the unity of consciousness, epiphenomenalism, free will, and causation.