Splendors and Miseries of the Brain (eBook)
256 Seiten
Wiley (Verlag)
978-1-4443-5947-3 (ISBN)
Semir Zeki is a visual neurobiologist in the Department of Cognitive Neurology at University College London. Zeki has pioneered the study of the primate visual brain and furthered research on how affective states are generated by visual inputs. He has published extensively in his field, including the books Inner Vision: an exploration of art and the brain (1999) and A Vision of the Brain (Blackwell Scientific, Oxford), and has also co-authored a book with the late French painter Balthus, entitled La Quête de l'essentiel (1995).
List of Figures vii
Note to the Reader ix
Acknowledgments x
Introduction 1
PART I Abstraction and the Brain 7
1 Abstraction 9
2 The Brain and its Concepts 21
3 Inherited Brain Concepts 26
4 The Distributed Knowledge-Acquiring System of the Brain 35
5 The Acquired Synthetic Brain Concepts 42
6 The Synthetic Brain Concept and the Platonic Ideal 46
7 Creativity and the Source of Perfection in the Brain 50
PART II Brain Concepts and Ambiguity 59
8 Ambiguity in the Brain and in Art 61
9 Processing and Perceptual Sites in the Brain 65
10 From Unambiguous to Ambiguous Knowledge 73
11 Higher Levels of Ambiguity 87
PART III Unachievable Brain Concepts 99
Introduction 101
12 Michelangelo and the Non finito 102
13 Paul Cézanne and the Unfinished 111
14 Unfinished Art in Literature 120
PART IV Brain Concepts of Love 129
Conte by Arthur Rimbaud 131
15 The Brain's Concepts of Love 132
16 The Neural Correlates of Love 137
17 Brain Concepts of Unity and Annihilation in Love 150
18 Sacred and Profane 158
19 The Metamorphosis of the Brain Concept of Love in Dante
170
20 Wagner and Tristan und Isolde 182
21 Thomas Mann and Death in Venice 193
22 A neurobiological analysis of Freud's Civilization and its
Discontents 203
Notes 213
Index 227
"'Courageous and carefully considered ... Zeki's book is wide
in its sympathies and sources, and it deserves attention as part of
a fascinating enquiry set to continue for many years to come."
(Brain, November 2009)
"Set ... quite apart from the snappiness of most contemporary
science-writing ... the book thinks hard, feels warmly and puts out
provocative suggestions." (London Review of Books,
October 2009)
"I enjoyed reading this book and appreciated the attempt
of the author to bridge the expansive chasm between experimental
result on visual sensory input and the intimate human experiences
for which we all strive." (The Canadian Journal of
Neurological Sciences, September 2009)
"Zeki's book has a beautiful and enigmatic cover and
title. Zeki explores the unachievable through the works of artists
and writers, concluding with Freud's Civilisation and its
Discontents. Counsellors with a background both in neuroscience and
an interest in the arts will find it a fascinating read."
(Therapy Today, September 2009)
"An exuberant read." (Times Higher Education, April
2009)
"The book offers a glimpse into the physiological, neurological
and emotional mechanisms of the most profound human part of our
experience." (Yoga and Health, February 2009)
"This is a brave and unusual book what you are trying
to do is look at the detailed neuroarchitecture of the brain, your
particular specialty is how the brain sees (vision), and then apply
it to a wider range of cultural ideas. I loved this book."
(Andrew Marr, Start The Week, Radio 4, November 2008)
"What was once dangerous territory is now the hottest theme in
brain research. the subtitle of Semir Zeki's excellent new book is
Love, Creativity and the Quest for Human Happiness ... .One
of the world's leading neurophysiologist [Zeki] has turned to brain
imaging to explore matters as seemingly outside brain science's
territory as beauty in literature and art - and even 'romantic
love.'" (Guardian, December 2008)
"This is going to lead to a new way of writing about the
arts, and a new audience for certain kinds of science at the same
time. (Start The Week, Radio 4, November 2008)
"This book is not about what neuroscience reveals about love
and about art, but it is about what love and art reveal about the
brain. This book reveals the intimate relationship between the
fundamental function of the brain and the highest of human
experiences."-Chris Frith FRS, University College
London, and author of Making up the Mind
"The Brain Sciences hold out the great promise of being a
natural bridge between the sciences, concerned with the nature of
life and the universe, and the humanities, concerned with the
nature of human existence. No one is in a better position to bridge
this divide than Semir Zeki, and he has succeeded in illustrating
how it must be done in this remarkable book, The Splendors and
Miseries of the Brain." -Eric Kandel,
University Professor and Kavli Professor, Director of Kavli
Institute for Brain Sciences, Columbia University, and Senior
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Erscheint lt. Verlag | 23.9.2011 |
---|---|
Sprache | englisch |
Themenwelt | Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Allgemeine Psychologie |
Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Verhaltenstherapie | |
Medizin / Pharmazie ► Medizinische Fachgebiete ► Neurologie | |
Schlagworte | Cognitive Neuropsychology & Cognitive Neuroscience • Kognitive Neuropsychologie u. Neurowissenschaft • Kognitive Psychologie • Psychologie • Psychology |
ISBN-10 | 1-4443-5947-9 / 1444359479 |
ISBN-13 | 978-1-4443-5947-3 / 9781444359473 |
Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
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