Evolution of the Brain: Creation of the Self

Sir John Eccles, a distinguished scientist and Nobel Prize winner who has devoted his scientific life to the study of the mammalian brain, tells the story of how we came to be, not only as animals at the end of the hominid evolutionary line, but also as human persons possessed of reflective consciousness. Foreword. Preface. Acknowledgements. List of Abbreviations. Biological evolution. The general story of human evolution. Evolution of hominid brain: bipedality; agility. Linguistic communication in hominid evolution. Cerebral limbic system in relation to the evolution of the reproductive and emotional systems. Visuo-motor evolution: artistic creativity. Evolution of learning and memory. The mind-brain problem in evolution. The self and its brain. The human person. Addendum. References. Subject index and Glossary.