Brain Science and Human Knowledge / La Science du cerveau et la connaissance

Advances in brain science are not only opening up new perspectives on the medical front; they are also allowing us to explore the very centre of humanity consciousness and thought. In this illuminating book, Gerald M. Edelman, who is regarded as one of the world's greatest theoreticians in the neurosciences, presents us with a highly accessible version of his theory of knowledge. He explains his theory's rich implications for our understanding of such complex processes as creativity, imagination and invention, and argues that the experimental study of the brain may enable us to understand thought. If this happens, Edelman foresees a day when we will be able to conceive of brain-based devices that are conscious. Such an event would have major consequences on the way we think, and it would upset our traditional ideas about thought and culture. He shows how the gulf between science and the humanities has never come so close to being bridged. This simple yet dense presentation of Gerald M. Edelman's theories stresses how they will affect the way we look at humanity, thought and culture. He examines how his new theory of knowledge will revolutionize our worldview. It was William James's dream that physiology, psychology and philosophy be joined into a single discipline, and in Second Nature this dream of a brain-based epistemology is brought closer than ever to realization. For anyone who is interested in human consciousness, this is required reading. Oliver Sacks The reader is drawn into a conversation with a master, who is at once witty and wise. Howard GardnerA Nobel laureate in Physiology and Medicine, Gerald M. Edelman is the director of the Neurosciences Institute, La Jolla, California, president of the Neurosciences Research Foundation, and chair of the Neurobiology Department of the Scripps Research Institute. He is the author of The Remembered Present: A Biological Theory of Consciousness, A Universe of Consciousness: How Matter Becomes Imagination and Wider Than the Sky: The Phenomenal Gift of Consciousness. / ?Les progr s des sciences du cerveau ouvrent de nouvelles perspectives pour d chiffrer ce qui fait le coeur m me de notre humanit: la conscience, la pens e. Gerald M. Edelman pr sente ici, en termes simples, les cl s de sa th orie de la connaissance. Il montre en particulier ce qu'elle va apporter la compr hension de processus aussi complexes que la cr ativit, l'imagination, l'invention. Si l' tude exp rimentale du cerveau nous permet de comprendre vraiment ce qu'est la pens e, alors, bient t, nous pourrons concevoir des dispositifs artificiels dot s de conscience, indique-t-il. Quelles en seront les cons quences ? Toutes nos id es classiques et tout le champ de la culture" et s'en trouveront boulevers s. Un chercheur majeur m dite sur l'apport global de ses travaux et la mani re dont sa discipline va r volutionner notre vision du monde. "William James r vait que la physiologie, la psychologie et la philosophie se rejoignent pour ne plus former qu'une seule discipline; Gerald M. Edelman montre que nous n'en avons jamais t aussi proches. Une lecture indispensable", Oliver Sacks.Auteur de Biologie de la conscience et de Comment la mati re devient conscience, prix Nobel de physiologie et de m decine, Gerald M. Edelman est directeur du Neurosciences Institute, La Jolla, en Californie, pr sident de la Neurosciences Research Foundation et chef du d partement de neurobiologie du Scripps Research Institute."