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The human brain is arguably one of the most complicated biological structures that has ever evolved -- so complicated, in fact, that we are only just now starting to understand it long after we've mapped the functions of our other organs. Part of the problem is that we are trying to use the brain to understand the brain, or in other words we are trying to reverse engineer the basic nature of our very selves.

Is that even possible? Most natural scientists think so, but many religious theists deny it.

Summary

Title: Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction
Author: Susan Blackmore
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192805851

Pro:
• Clear, concise, and understandable introduction to a difficult topic
• Helps explain many important facets of where the philosophy and science of the mind are today

Con:
• None

Description:
• General overview of research and theories about the nature and origin of human consciousness
• Describes pros and cons of many different attempts to understand how our minds work

Book Review

Scientists try to approach the function of the human brain just as they approach the functioning of any other organ in our bodies: as a natural feature of the natural world. According to this view, what we call our "mind" is dependent upon the physical brain, making the mind just as natural and material as other biological processes like digestion. Even so, it's difficult to entirely escape the lure of dualism — the view that "mind" is completely separate from and independent of the physical brain.

Usually dualism is accompanied by the belief that the mind is basically the soul — an immaterial, eternal "thing" which represents our true selves. This view has been promoted by theistic religions for millennia.

Because research into the nature and functioning of the brain is still in its relatively early stages, there's a lot of open ground and disputed ideas. Scientific researchers are not united behind a single explanation or way of conceptualizing how the brain creates the mind and consciousness. This means that there is a lot to read and digest before you can claim to at least understand where the current research stands — but fortunately there is a good place to start. Susan Blackmore's Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction is part of Oxford University Press "very short introduction" series and, like other volumes, does a great job at explaining even complicated issues in a way that is comprehensible and engaging for even a general audience. Perhaps the most significant problem in the study of human consciousness is whether there is real problem there or not.

Some argue that there are "easy problems" like explaining how processes like perception and memory work, then the "hard problem" of explaining how consciousness itself works. Others argue that there is no "hard problem" because if we can explain all the "easy problems," then we will have explained consciousness (or at least the explanation for consciousness will immediately and obviously follow). The difference can stated as: is consciousness an "extra thing" or "extra ingredient" in our minds, or is any sufficiently advanced mental processing system also necessarily "conscious"?

For many religious theists, this question necessarily turns on the existence of a soul. Machines and robots cannot be "conscious," for example, because they cannot have souls — only God can imbue a living being with a soul and it cannot automatically appear simply because a system becomes complex enough. Even some scientists who don't believe in souls will agree that simply having all the same parts and complexities as a human brain would not lead to consciousness, but many others think that it would. This means that efforts to create a "conscious" machine will have profound implications for the common belief in dualism, souls, and a "mind" that is immaterial, supernatural, and separate from the physical brain.

Like most scientists and researchers, Blackmore rejects the traditional religious explanations for the mind: she rejects dualism, she rejects the existence of a mind or soul that is independent of the brain, and she rejects the idea that the mind is in any way eternal.

Blackmore goes further than most, however, and is inclined to believe that even the existence of a coherent, consistent "self" is likely an illusion. Most scientists seem to be trying to hold on to this, and intuitively it is something that seems to be true. There is a significant amount of evidence and logic which suggests otherwise, though — and if it's true that our traditional, intuitive notion of consistent self is wrong, then what does this say about the existence of a soul?

Although Susan Blackmore certainly has her own views, this doesn't interfere with her explanations — readers won't get the feeling that she is only setting up straw men to attack or that she's giving short shrift to views she doesn't accept. She doesn't hide her own perspective, but she also doesn't let it get in the way of giving readers a broad education in where current research stands, what different researchers think, and of course possible problems with it all.

Blackmore doesn't cover everything, of course, nor could she in a short introduction like this. Yet she does cover plenty, and anyone simply looking for an overview of the field will get all they need. If someone would like more detailed information, a good follow-up would be Blackmore's Conversations on Consciousness, where she interviews many leading researchers to ask them what they think and why.