by Thomas Nagel
NYRB, Volume 64, No. 4, March 9, 2017.
Interest in consciousness really took off in the early 1990s, especially with the publication of Dan Dennett's Consciousness Explained (1991) and John Searle's The Rediscovery of the Mind (1992). Life may be too short to read all of these books oneself, but the flavor of the debate over consciousness can be gleaned by reading the reviews of these books, which have appeared in various issues of the New York Review of Books -- perhaps America's leading intellectual journal. UCB's John Searle has been an especially prominent contributor to these reviews.
All of these articles are available online through the UCB Llibrary website, and other venues, including the NYRM itself.
Items marked with an asterisk (*) were reprinted in Searle's The Mystery of Conciousness (1997).
New York Review of Books, June 29, 1972.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1972/jun/29/a-special-supplement-chomskys-revolution-in-lingui/
Not on consciousness, exactly, but still an important critique of an important trend in psychology and cognitive science. But still relevant to consciousness, in a sense, given Chomsky's view that language is mediated by "deep" grammatical rules that operate outside phenomenal awareness. Reviews a number of books by Chomsky, including Reviews a number of books by and about Chomsky, including his groundbreaking Syntactic Structures (1957), Aspects of the Theory of Syntax (1965), and Cartesian Linguistics (1966); and Language and Mind (1968, 1972), in which Chomsky discusses the relationship between his theory of language and his views on human nature. The review also covers Searle's early work on speech acts, including Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language (1969).
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1973/feb/08/deep-language/
Details Lakoff's disagreements with Chomsky.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1973/feb/22/the-sleeping-chess-player/
On Chomsky's "innatism", with a reply by Searle.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1973/jul/19/chomsky-replies/
More to Lakoff than to Searle. Chomsky wrote a longer response to Searle in Reflections on Language (1975), reviewed by Bernard Williams in NYRB, November 11, 1976).
NYRB, Volume 29, Number 7, April 29, 1982
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1982/apr/29/the-myth-of-the-computer/
Review of The Mind's I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul composed and arranged by Douglas R. Hofstadter, by Daniel C. Dennett. Basic Books, 501 pp., $16.95. An early statement of the "Chinese Room" argument against Strong Artificial Intelligence.
NYRB, Volume 29, Number 11, June 24, 1982
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1982/jun/24/the-myth-of-the-computer-an-exchange/
In response to "The Myth of the Computer").
NYRB, Volume 36, Number 2, February 16, 1989
http://www.nybooks.com/contents/19890216
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1982/oct/21/body-mind-and-machine/
Reviews a number of books on psychology and neuropsychology, including The Question of Animal Awareness by Donald R. Griffin.
NYRB, Volume 34, Number 18, November 19, 1987
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1987/nov/19/the-case-of-the-colorblind-painter/
Reviews classic works on visual sensation and perception, including Some Uncommon Observations About Vitiated Sight by Robert Boyle (1688); "Disorders of Complex Visual Processing" by by Antonio R. Damasio. in M-Marsel Mesulam, ed., Principles of Behavioral Neurology; Caspar Hauser by Anselm von Feuerbach (1834); The Intelligent Eye by Richard L. Gregory (1971); Physiological Optics by Hermann von Helmholtz (1856–1867); "The Retinex Theory of Color Vision" by Edwin H. Land (1977); Vision: A Computational Investigation into the Human Representation and Processing of Visual Information (posthumous, 1982); "Retinex Theory and Colour Constancy" by J.J. McCann (1987); "Colour Vision: Eye Mechanisms," W.A.H. Rushton (1987); " Remarks on Colour" by Ludwig Wittgenstein (his last work, 1950); "The Construction of Colours by the Cerebral Cortex" by S. Zeki (1984); "Selective Disturbance of Movement Vision after Bilateral Brain Damage" by J. Zihl et al. (1983); "Colourful Notions" in the film series The Nature of Things (1984).
NYRB, February 1, 1990.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1990/feb/01/matter-over-mind/
Reviews Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence by Hans Moravec.
NYRB, March 15, 1990.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1990/mar/15/what-cant-the-computer-do/
Reviews the Emperor's New Mind: concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics by Roger Penrose.
NYRB, June 14, 1990.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1990/jun/14/the-emperors-new-mind-an-exchange/
Mostly about the "Chinese Room" argument.
NYRB, Volume 37, Number 18 · November 22, 1990
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1990/nov/22/neurology-and-the-soul/
Discusses a number of books and articles on cognition and consciousness, including Remembering: A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology by Frederick C. Bartlett (1932); Neural Darwinism: The Theory of Neuronal Group Selection by Gerald M. Edelman; The Remembered Present: A Biological Theory of Consciousness by Gerald M. Edelman; The Mystery of the Mind by Wilder Penfield; The Invention of Memory: A New View of the Brain by Israel Rosenfield; La Conscience: Une Biologie du Moi Knopf by Israel Rosenfield ; "A Critique of Artificial Intelligence" by Israel Rosenfield; Man on his Nature by Charles Sherrington; The Integrative Action of the Nervous System by Charles Sherrington; Migraine by Oliver Sacks; Awakenings by Oliver Sacks; A Leg to Stand On by Oliver Sacks; The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks; and Seeing Voices by Oliver Sacks.
NYRB Volume 37, Number 19 · December 6, 1990
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1990/dec/06/neurology-and-the-soul/
Corrects and expands on Neurology
and the Soul
(November 22, 1990)
NYRB, Volume 38, Number 1 & 2 · January 17, 1991
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1991/jan/17/james-sacksified/
An amusing (and instructoive) correction of another error in Neurology
and the Soul
(November 22, 1990)
Volume 39, Number 6 · March 26, 1992
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1992/mar/26/the-last-hippie/
Reviews a number of books and articles on consciousness and memory, including The Remembered Present: A Biological Theory of Consciousness by Gerald M. Edelman; "Human Autonomy and the Frontal Lobes" by F. Lhermitte, B. Pillon, & M. Serdaru; Human Brain and Psychological Processes by A. R. Luria; The Neuropsychology of Memory by A. R. Luria; "Long-lasting Perceptual Priming and Semantic Learning in Amnesia: A Case Experiment" by Endel Tulving, C.A.Gordon Hayman, & Carol A. Macdonald; Drumming at the Edge of Magic: A Journey into the Spirit of Percussion by Mickey Hart; "The Medial Temporal Lobe Memory System" by Larry Squire and Stuart Zola-Morgan; Sound and Symbol: Volume I, Music and the External World, and Volume II, The Musician by Victor Zuckerkandl; The Strange, Familiar, and Forgotten: An Anatomy of Consciousness by Israel Rosenfield; "
NYRB, Volume 40, Number 5 · March 4, 1993
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1993/mar/04/the-mind-wins/
Reviews The Rediscovery of the Mind by John Searle Searle gets as good as he gives.
NYRB, Volume 40, Numer 7, April 8, 1993
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1993/apr/08/making-up-the-mind/
Reviews Bright Air, Brilliant Fire: On the Matter of the
Mind
By John R. SearleNYRB, Volume 42, Number 17 · November 2, 1995
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1995/nov/02/the-mystery-of-consciousness/
ReviewsThe Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul by Francis Crick; Consciousness Explained by Daniel C. Dennett< The Remembered Present: A Biological Theory of Consciousness and Bright Air, Brilliant Fire: On the Matter of the Mind by Gerald Edelman; Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness by Roger Penrose; and The Strange, Familiar, and Forgotten: An Anatomy of Consciousness by Israel Rosenfield.
Volume 42, Number 18 · November 16, 1995
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1995/nov/16/the-mystery-of-consciousness-part-ii/
Continues the reviews in Part I.
Volume 42, Number 20 · December 21, 1995
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1995/dec/21/the-mystery-of-consciousness-an-exchange/
By John R. SearleNYRB, Volume 44, Number 4 · March 6, 1997
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1993/mar/04/the-mind-wins/
Reviews The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory by David J. Chalmers
In response to Searle's review of The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory (March 6, 1997)
NYRB, Volume 46, Number 6 · April 8, 1999
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1999/apr/08/i-married-a-computer/
Review of The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence by Ray Kurzweil
Volume 46, Number 9 · May 20, 1999
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1999/may/20/i-married-a-computer-an-exchange/
In response to I Married a Computer (April 8, 1999)
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1999/jun/10/can-we-ever-understand-consciousness/
Reviews Mind, Language, and Society:Philosophy in the Real World by John R. Searle and On the Contrary: Critical Essays, 1987-1997 by Paul M. Churchland and Patricia S. Churchland.
NYRB, 48(13), 08/19/2001.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2001/aug/09/love-on-a-laptop/
Review of Thinks... by David Lodge.
NYRB, 49(6), 04/11/2002.
Review of Consciousness and the World by Brian O'Shaughnessy.
NYRB, Volume 51, Number 1 · January 15, 2004
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2004/jan/15/in-the-river-of-consciousness/
Reviews a variety of books and articles on consciousness, including The Principles of Psychology by William James; Creative Evolution by Henri Bergson; The Organization of Behavior: A Neuropsychological Theory by Donald Hebb; Neural Darwinism: The Theory of Neuronal Group Selection; by Gerald M. Edelman; Wider Than the Sky: The Phenomenal Gift of Consciousness by Gerald M. Edelman; The Physiology of Truth: Neuroscience and Human Knowledge by Jean-Pierre Changeux; The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul by Francis Crick; The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach by Christof Koch; and A Natural History of Vision by Nicholas J. Wade.
Volume 51, Number 6 · April 8, 2004
In response to In the River of Consciousness
(January 15, 2004)
Volume 52, Number 1 · January 13, 2005
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2005/jan/13/consciousness-what-we-still-dont-know/
Reviews The Quest for Consciousness by Christof Koch.
In response to Consciousness:
What We Still Don't Know
(January 13, 2005)
By Oliver SacksNYRB, Volume 52, Number 5 · March 24, 2005
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2005/mar/24/remembering-francis-crick/
A memorial tribute, written on the occasion of Crick's death, but focusing mostly on the Crick-Koch "40 Hertz" theory of consciousness.
NYRB, Volume 53, Number 17,11/02/2006
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2006/nov/02/minding-the-brain/
Reviews Seeing Red: A Study in Consciousness by Nicholas Humphrey
NYRB, Volume 58, Number 10, 06/09/2011
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jun/09/mystery-consciousness-continues/
Reviews Self comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain by Antonio Damasio.
NYRB, Volume 58, Number 14, 09/29/2011
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/sep/29/mystery-consciousness-cont/
Response to Searle's review of Damasio's Self Comes to Mind.
NYRB, Volume 60, Number 1, 01/10/2013
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/jan/10/can-information-theory-explain-consciousness/
Reviews Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist by Christof Koch. Here's a sample: "Chrstof Koch describes his book as the 'Confessions of a Romantic Reeuctionist.' But this is misleading. His book is expliicitly and aggressively antireductionist, it contains no confessions, and if you are looking for a romantic book -- this is not it."
NYRB, Volume 60, Number 4 - 03/07/2013
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/mar/07/can-photodiode-be-conscious/
In response to Searle's review of Koch's book.
NYRB, Volume 60, Number 2, 02/07/2013
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/feb/07/awaiting-new-darwin/
Reviews Mind and Cosmos: Why the
Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost
Certainly False
NYRB, Volume 60, Number 5, 03/21/2013
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/mar/21/homunculism/
Reviews How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed by Ray Kurzweil. The "secret" is the Pattern Recognition Theory of the Mind (PRTM), apparently an unconscious revival of the old "pandemonium" theory of perception. Contains a chapter on consciousness and free will, which doesn't really fit with the PRTM, and relies on the Turing Test to determine whether a machine is conscious.
NYRB, Volume 60, Number 9, 05/23/2013
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/may/23/how-create-mind-mcginn-kurzweil/
Responds to McGinn's review of Kurzweil's book.
NYRB, Volume 60, Number 6, 04/04/2013
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/apr/04/hallucinators-among-us/
Reviews Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks, which focuses on the "organic" hallucinations associated with brain imjury or psychedelic drugs -- not the "functional" hallucinations associated with major psychoses, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
NYRB, Volume 60, Number 6, 04/04/2013
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/apr/04/most-us-are-biased-after-all/
Reviews Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin R. Banaji & Anthony G. Greenwald. Greenwald is the inventor, and he and Banaji, the most vigorous promoters, of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) as a measure of unconscious bias and prejudice. This book, intended to summarize research on the IAT for a general audience, is short on criticism of the IAT. The title assertion might be true -- but for reasons discussed in class and the Lecture Supplements on Explicit and Implicit Motivation and Emotion, the IAT gives us no good reason to think that our biases are unconscious.
NYRB, Volume 60, No. 12, 07/11/2013
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/jul/11/what-can-your-neurons-tell-you/
Reviews the Good, the
True, and the Beautiful: A Neuronal Approach by J.-P.
Changeux. France's foremost living cognitive neuroscientist --
hell, he's Frances foremost cognitive neuroscientist of any
age or era! -- makes an argument for neural reductionism; the
founder of The Mysterians is having none of it.
NYRB, Volume 60, Number 13, 08/15/2013
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/aug/15/neuroscience-philosophy-exchange/
Changeux objects to McGinn's review of his book; McGinn lets him have it again.
NYRB, Volume 61, No. 7, 04/24/2014
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/apr/24/storm-over-the-brain/
Reviews Touching a
Nerve: The Self as Brain by Patricia A. Churchland,
and McGinn is haviing none of her "intertheoretic
reductionism", either.
NYRB, Volume 61, Number 11, 06/19/2014
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/jun/19/brains-and-minds-exchange/
Churchland continues to insist that "if you want to understand the mind, you need to understand the brain", and accuses McGinn of nostalgia. McGinn parries effectively, but then he slips a little bit, arguing that knowledge of the brain may be necessary for understanding the mind (which it is not), but that it is not sufficient (which Churchland seems to be claiming it is).
by T.M.
Scanlon. Argues that the truths of mathematics and
morality are not the same as the truths of physics and
chemistry. Perhaps more relevant to a course on Social
Cognition, but it does have a flavor of immaterialism about it,
so it's relevant to a course on Consciousness, as well."What Your Computer Can't Do"
NYRB, Volume 61, No. 15,
October 9, 2014.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/oct/09/what-your-computer-cant-know/
ReviewsThe 4th Revolution: How
the Infosphere Is Reshaping Human Reality
NYRB, Volume 64, No. 4, March 9, 2017.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/03/09/is-consciousness-an-illusion-dennett-evolution/
Reviews From Bacteria to Bach and
Back: The Evolution of Minds by Daniel Dennett, in which
Dennett essentially restates the his position he took in consciousness
Explained -- which, of course, is totally opposed to
Nagel's. NYRB does this a lot, and it often
really illuminates the controversy. But this time, Nagel
is surprisingly mild-mannered, essentially letting Dennett
speak for himself.
NYRB Daily, March 13, 2018.
http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/03/13/the-consciousness-deniers/
In an
essay adapted from a chapter in his new book, Things That
Bother Me: Death, Freedom, the Self, Etc. (2018), the
philosopher starts out with the following:
"What is the silliest claim ever made? The competition is fierce, but I think the answer is easy. Some people have denied the existence of consciousness: conscious experience, the subjective character of experience, the “what-it-is-like” of experience. Next to this denial—I’ll call it “the Denial”—every known religious belief is only a little less sensible than the belief that grass is green".
"Magic, Illusions, and Zombies: An Exchange"
by Daniel Dennett; Response by Galen Strawson
A major target of Strawson's complaint is, of
course, Daniel Dennett, and the two of them had an exchange
of views in the NYRB Daily, 04/03/2018.
This page last updated 05/02/2017.