The Mysterious Flame (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Colin McGinn
- First Published: 1999
- Type of Work: Philosophy
- Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy
- Subjects: Self, Science or scientists, Consciousness, Space and time, Artificial intelligence, Thought or thinking, Mind and body, Brain
One of the most ancient of human experiences is the perception of a distinction between the world and the mind that perceives the world. The question of how the ideas, images, and feelings that occur in the mind are related to the physical world inspired the work of Plato, giving rise to the Western philosophical tradition. With the rise of the mechanistic, scientific worldview in early modern Europe, the question took on a new form and a new urgency. If the universe consists of a series of causes and effects among objects, how is it possible for human beings to be subjects who are...
[The entire page is 1934 words long]
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