Consciousness and the Origins of Thought [Paperback]

This book offers a comprehensive and broadly rationalist theory of the mind.This book offers a comprehensive and broadly rationalist theory of the mind which continually tests itself against experimental results and clinical data. Taking issue with both Empiricists and Externalists, Norton Nelkin argues that perception is cognitive, constructive and proposition-like, and that meaning is determined 'in the head'. Finally, he offers an account of how we acquire some of our most basic concepts, including the concept of the self and that of other minds.This book offers a comprehensive and broadly rationalist theory of the mind which continually tests itself against experimental results and clinical data. Taking issue with both Empiricists and Externalists, Norton Nelkin argues that perception is cognitive, constructive and proposition-like, and that meaning is determined 'in the head'. Finally, he offers an account of how we acquire some of our most basic concepts, including the concept of the self and that of other minds.This book offers a comprehensive and broadly rationalist theory of the mind that continually tests itself against experimental results and clinical data. Taking issue with both Empiricists and Externalists, Norton Nelkin argues that perception is cognitive, constructive and proposition-like, and that meaning is determined in the head . Finally, he offers an account of how we acquire some of our most basic concepts, including the concept of the self and that of other minds.Preface; Introduction; Part I. Phenomena: 1. The senses; 2. Phenomena; 3. Pains; 4. Phenomena reconsidered; Part II. Consciousness: 5. Consciousness: preliminaries; 6. Consciousness: a theory; 7. Consciousness: an appendix; Part III. Apperception: 8. Apperception; 9. Selves; 10. Things; 11. Will; Concluding remarks; Bibliography; Index. ...the book addresses many novel questions in imaginative and striking ways. Robert J. Stanton, Philosophy in Review ...this is a heroic work of sl'