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Books

Jun. 23, 2017

The mind makes up the world

In examining the building blocks of consciousness in his new book, "From Bacteria to Bach and Back," Dennett starts with billions of years of what he calls "irreplaceable design work."

Richard Wirick

Partner Risk Management and Insurance Litigation (RMIL) Practice Group at Haight, Brown & Bonesteel LLP (Haight).

In his mid-career books like "Brainchildren" and "Consciousness Explained," the philosopher and neuroscientist Daniel Dennett seemed hell bent on showing how a comprehending mind could be built from a mindless process of natural selection. How this happens has perplexed philosophers since Aristotle, who blew Aeolian wind into the skull, and Descartes, who proved the irreducibility of consciousness but fobbed the leap from matter to thought back to his Catholic God. An...

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