J. Andrew Ross

Mindworlds: A Decade of Consciousness Studies J. Andrew Ross 0002-revised edition

Consciousness is hard to understand. The ongoing attempt to understand it is one of the central scientific challenges of our time. This book is primarily a presentation of Andy Ross's own recent work, but it also discusses various other contemporary perspectives on the core issues. The chapters are based on texts written for a variety of occasions and audiences. Reading the chapters in serial order, one senses a growing clarity in the articulation of the new ideas, some of which are deep and rather subtle, and this gives the picture as a whole a more dynamic quality. Many of the ideas in this field are still provisional, and it is interesting to see how they have evolved over the period 1997 to 2008 during which these essays were written. Some of the chapters discuss quite different approaches pursued by other workers. These other approaches complement my own, and together they form the context of an ongoing development.