Antonio Damasio

"An ambitious and meticulous foray into the nature of being." -- The Boston Globe A landmark exploration of the relationship between emotion and reason Since Descartes famously proclaimed, "I think, therefore I am," science has often overlooked emotions as the source of a person's true being. Even modern neuroscience has tended, until recently, to concentrate on the cognitive aspects of brain function, disregarding emotions. This attitude began to change with the publication of Descartes' Error in 1995. Antonio Damasio--"one of the world's leading neurologists" (The New York Times)--challenged traditional ideas about the connection between emotions and rationality. In this wondrously engaging book, Damasio takes the reader on a journey of scientific discovery through a series of case studies, demonstrating what many of us have long suspected: emotions are not a luxury, they are essential to rational thinking and to normal social behavior.

An eminent neuroscientist explores the science of human emotion and what the great Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza can teach of how and why we feel. Damasio shows how joy and sorrow, those most defining of human feelings, are the cornerstones of our survival and culture.

Antonio Damasio on saavuttanut maailmanmaineen neurologian ja neurobiologian uusien tutkimustulosten tulkkina mielen maailmassa. Hänen teoksensa ovat nopeasti vakiinnuttaneet asemansa alan ajattelun merkkitapauksina ja jokaisen alaa seuraavan suorastaan pakollisena luettavana. Spinozaa etsimässä on Damasion kolmas suomennettu teos ja se pyrkii kuvaamaan mielen toimintaa ilon ja surun mekanismien kautta. Samalla osoittautuu, että Benedict Spinoza, René Descartesin aikalainen, ennakoi melkoisessa määrin nykyisen neurotutkimuksen tuloksia. Sen lisäksi, että Spinozaa etsimässä on hermoston toiminnan kuvaus, sitä voidaan pitää Spinozan itsensä kunnian palauttamisena.

â?? The Feeling of What Happens will change your experience of yourselfâ?? New York TimesWhere do our emotions come from?

In The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, director of UCLA's Brain and Creativity Institute, presents "the first truly compelling neurobiological account of the self...a remarkable work of intellectual daring" (Nature). A New York Times Book Review Editors' ChoiceWidley praised for his innovative scientific thinking and elegant writing, Antonio Damasio, the international bestselling author of Descartes' Error achieves an understanding of consciousness by asking and answering profound questions: How is it we know what we know? How is it that our conscious and private minds have a sense of self? In this groundbreaking book, Damasio -- a renowned and revered scientist and clinician who spent decades following amnesiacs down hospital corridors, waiting for comatose patients to awaken, and devising ingenious research using PET scans to piece together the great puzzle of consciousness -- explores the biological roots of sentient awareness and its role in survival. Consciousness is the feeling of what happens-our mind noticing the body's reaction to the world and responding to that experience. Without our bodies there can be no consciousness, which is at heart a mechanism for survival that engages body, emotion, and mind in the glorious spiral of human life. Linking body and emotion in an arresting and original study of what it is to be human, The Feeling of What Happens "will change your experience of yourself" (The New York Times)." Both Descartes Error and The Feeling of What Happens are essential reading. They are ground-breaking classics of psychology and neuroscience."--Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine