Brain-Mind

How do brains make minds? Paul Thagard presents a unified brain-based theory of cognition and emotion with applications to the most complex kinds of thinking right up to consciousness and creativity. Neural mechanisms are used to explain mental operations for analogy action intention <br>language and the self. <p/><em>Brain-Mind</em> develops a brilliant account of mental operations using promising new ideas from theoretical neuroscience. Single neurons cannot do much by themselves but groups of neurons work together to accomplish powerful kinds of mental representation including concepts images and rules. <p/>Minds enable people to perceive imagine solve problems understand learn speak reason create and be emotional and conscious. Competing explanations of how the mind works have identified it as soul computer brain dynamical system or social construction. This book explains minds in terms of<br>interacting mechanisms operating at multiple levels including the social mental neural and molecular. Unification comes from systematic application of Chris Eliasmith's powerful Semantic Pointer Architecture a highly original synthesis of neural network and symbolic ideas about how the mind<br>works. <p/>This book belongs to a trio that includes <em>Mind-Society: From Brains to Social Sciences and Professions </em>and <em>Natural Philosophy: From Social Brains to Knowledge Reality Morality and Beauty</em>. They can be read independently but together they make up a <em>Treatise on Mind and Society</em> that provides a<br>unified and comprehensive treatment of the cognitive sciences social sciences professions and humanities.<br>