Consciousness

Separation and Integration

By Neil Rossman

Subjects: Philosophy
Paperback : 9780791404089, 213 pages, January 1991
Hardcover : 9780791404072, 213 pages, January 1991

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Table of contents

Preface

1. Philosophy of Mind and the Problem of Personal Integration

2. Conceptual Understanding and Personal Integration

3. Consciousness and Personal Integration

4. Consciousness, Knowledge and Error

5. Consciousness, Pain and Error

6. Desire

7. Belief

8. Fragmentation, Alienation and Self

9. Self and Integration

Notes

Index

Description

A central claim of this book is that the emergence of humanity involves a splitting of consciousness—the ability of consciousness to become reflectively aware of itself. But the splitting of consciousness is simultaneously the development of the possibility of fragmentation (incoherence within consciousness) and alienation (non-unity of consciousness with others and the world). Thus, through the growth of reflective consciousness, separation comes to permeate the whole of human experience. So understood, it creates the need for integration, and Rossman's discussion ultimately centers on its attainment.

Within this perspective, various aspects of consciousness, including perception, organic sensation, desire, and belief, are explored. There is also extensive discussion of personal identity or the experience of being a self. Finally, the above analyses provide the ground for discussions of freedom, morality, and being religious.

Neil Rossman is a Professor at F. H. LaGuardia College.

Reviews

"I believe—emphatically—that an approach such as Rossman's to current work in philosophy of mind is truly needed. It is a judicious inquiry into the "relevance" of the most influential philosophizing today about the nature of consciousness. It will stimulate lively discussions about the relevance of the subject for today's students. " — Gerald E. Myers, Queens College