The Illusion of Conscious Will

The Illusion of Conscious Will PDF Author: Daniel M. Wegner
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262290553
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 725

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Book Description
A novel contribution to the age-old debate about free will versus determinism. Do we consciously cause our actions, or do they happen to us? Philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, theologians, and lawyers have long debated the existence of free will versus determinism. In this book Daniel Wegner offers a novel understanding of the issue. Like actions, he argues, the feeling of conscious will is created by the mind and brain. Yet if psychological and neural mechanisms are responsible for all human behavior, how could we have conscious will? The feeling of conscious will, Wegner shows, helps us to appreciate and remember our authorship of the things our minds and bodies do. Yes, we feel that we consciously will our actions, Wegner says, but at the same time, our actions happen to us. Although conscious will is an illusion, it serves as a guide to understanding ourselves and to developing a sense of responsibility and morality. Approaching conscious will as a topic of psychological study, Wegner examines the issue from a variety of angles. He looks at illusions of the will—those cases where people feel that they are willing an act that they are not doing or, conversely, are not willing an act that they in fact are doing. He explores conscious will in hypnosis, Ouija board spelling, automatic writing, and facilitated communication, as well as in such phenomena as spirit possession, dissociative identity disorder, and trance channeling. The result is a book that sidesteps endless debates to focus, more fruitfully, on the impact on our lives of the illusion of conscious will.

The Illusion of Conscious Will

The Illusion of Conscious Will PDF Author: Daniel M. Wegner
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262290553
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 725

Get Book

Book Description
A novel contribution to the age-old debate about free will versus determinism. Do we consciously cause our actions, or do they happen to us? Philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, theologians, and lawyers have long debated the existence of free will versus determinism. In this book Daniel Wegner offers a novel understanding of the issue. Like actions, he argues, the feeling of conscious will is created by the mind and brain. Yet if psychological and neural mechanisms are responsible for all human behavior, how could we have conscious will? The feeling of conscious will, Wegner shows, helps us to appreciate and remember our authorship of the things our minds and bodies do. Yes, we feel that we consciously will our actions, Wegner says, but at the same time, our actions happen to us. Although conscious will is an illusion, it serves as a guide to understanding ourselves and to developing a sense of responsibility and morality. Approaching conscious will as a topic of psychological study, Wegner examines the issue from a variety of angles. He looks at illusions of the will—those cases where people feel that they are willing an act that they are not doing or, conversely, are not willing an act that they in fact are doing. He explores conscious will in hypnosis, Ouija board spelling, automatic writing, and facilitated communication, as well as in such phenomena as spirit possession, dissociative identity disorder, and trance channeling. The result is a book that sidesteps endless debates to focus, more fruitfully, on the impact on our lives of the illusion of conscious will.

The Ultimate Book of Optical Illusions

The Ultimate Book of Optical Illusions PDF Author: Al Seckel
Publisher: Sterling Publishing Company
ISBN: 9781402734045
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
Contains color and black-and-white illustrations of over three hundred optical illusions, each with brief, explanatory text.

Optical Illusions 2

Optical Illusions 2 PDF Author: Dorling Kindersley Publishing Staff
Publisher: DK Children
ISBN: 9781465463241
Category : Optical illusions
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Explore the secrets behind more than 30 of the world's most amazing visual puzzles, tricks, and illusions, and then learn how to make your own with this brand-new title in DK's popular Optical Illusions series. Much more than your average puzzle book, Optical Illusions 2 takes things to the next level, turning these mind-benders into exciting interactive and 3-D games with flaps, tabs, and pullouts, and putting logic and reasoning skills to the test for endless entertainment. You can even explore the science behind illusions and find out exactly how they boggle your brain and fool your eyes. Then, when you're ready to amaze others, use the instructions and tips and 10 template cards provided to draw puzzling patterns, play with perspective, and so much more. It's time to stretch your mental muscles to the max with Optical Illusions 2.

The Knowledge Illusion

The Knowledge Illusion PDF Author: Steven Sloman
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0399184341
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
“The Knowledge Illusion is filled with insights on how we should deal with our individual ignorance and collective wisdom.” —Steven Pinker We all think we know more than we actually do. Humans have built hugely complex societies and technologies, but most of us don’t even know how a pen or a toilet works. How have we achieved so much despite understanding so little? Cognitive scientists Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach argue that we survive and thrive despite our mental shortcomings because we live in a rich community of knowledge. The key to our intelligence lies in the people and things around us. We’re constantly drawing on information and expertise stored outside our heads: in our bodies, our environment, our possessions, and the community with which we interact—and usually we don’t even realize we’re doing it. The human mind is both brilliant and pathetic. We have mastered fire, created democratic institutions, stood on the moon, and sequenced our genome. And yet each of us is error prone, sometimes irrational, and often ignorant. The fundamentally communal nature of intelligence and knowledge explains why we often assume we know more than we really do, why political opinions and false beliefs are so hard to change, and why individual-oriented approaches to education and management frequently fail. But our collaborative minds also enable us to do amazing things. The Knowledge Illusion contends that true genius can be found in the ways we create intelligence using the community around us.

Empire of Illusion

Empire of Illusion PDF Author: Chris Hedges
Publisher: Knopf Canada
ISBN: 0307398587
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
Pulitzer prize–winner Chris Hedges charts the dramatic and disturbing rise of a post-literate society that craves fantasy, ecstasy and illusion. Chris Hedges argues that we now live in two societies: One, the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world, that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other, a growing majority, is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic. In this “other society,” serious film and theatre, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins. In the tradition of Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism and Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, Hedges navigates this culture — attending WWF contests as well as Ivy League graduation ceremonies — exposing an age of terrifying decline and heightened self-delusion.

The Grand Illusion

The Grand Illusion PDF Author: Brendan D Murphy
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780646973357
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 606

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Book Description
The Grand Illusion synthesizes the best consciousness research with decades of cutting-edge discovery and hard science, empowering you with an intelligent new paradigm and new direction for humanity. This acclaimed book destroys the materialist notion of humans as "meat computers" and lays the foundation for a scientifically-based metaphysics.

Masters of Deception

Masters of Deception PDF Author: Al Seckel
Publisher: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.
ISBN: 9781402705779
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
Rings of seahorses seem to rotate and butterflies seems to transform into warriors right on the page. Astonishing creations of visual trickery by masters of the art, such as Escher, Dali, and Archimbolo make this breathtaking collection the definitive book of optical illusions. Includes an illuminating Foreword by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Hofstadter.

Champions of Illusion

Champions of Illusion PDF Author: Susana Martinez-Conde
Publisher: Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374120404
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
A collection of visual illusions with explanations of the science behind them, gathered from the Best Illusions of the Year contest. --

The Moon Illusion

The Moon Illusion PDF Author: Maurice Hershenson
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 1134737459
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 572

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Book Description
This unique volume attempts to answer one of mankind's oldest puzzles -- why the moon appears to be larger and closer on the horizon than when it is high in the sky. Over the centuries, many viable solutions have been proposed for this psychological phenomenon. The Moon Illusion presents papers by major theorists striving to explain the illusion and providing commentaries on the works of others. Research on the moon illusion has been scattered throughout journals in many disciplines including philosophy, physiology, physics, and psychology. As the first publication to present a comprehensive treatment of the problem, this book is of vital interest to professionals whose major concern is visual perception, experimental psychology, or the neurosciences. Of additional interest to those whose focus is physics or astronomy.

Grand Illusion

Grand Illusion PDF Author: Theresa Amato
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1459600010
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 722

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Book Description
As the national campaign manager for Ralph Nader's historic runs for president in 2000 and 2004, Theresa Amato had a rare ringside role in two of the most hotly contested presidential elections this country has seen. In Grand Illusion, she gives u...