العوالم الأربعة للوجود .. نظرية جديدة عن ماهية الإنسان

LeDoux aims to provide a new theory of what it is to be human by dividing our evolutionary past into four domains: primarily biological, then neurobiological, cognitive, and conscious... Along the way, the book includes excellent explanations of the evolution of brain structures and cognitive abilities. -_New Scientist_ “A scientifically rigorous, yet readable, exploration of what it means to be human.” - Publishers Weekly Modern science has largely abandoned the mind-body dualism, yet people still tend to imagine their minds as separate from their physical being. Even researchers themselves still assume the existence of a “self” that is somehow distinct from the rest of the organism. Leading neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux presents a new framework based on four realms of existence, starting from the idea that the self is an obstacle to understanding: physical, neural, cognitive, and conscious. Every living organism, whether bacteria, plant, or animal, has a body. Only animals complete this biological existence with a nervous system, which enables them to have rapid and precise control of the organism. Some animals are also capable of thinking and planning, and therefore exist cognitively. Finally, some organisms with cognitive abilities have internal experiences and ideas about the world, which are characteristic features of the conscious world. These four worlds constantly collaborate to create the experience of a being with a past, present, and future. The result, as Ledoux explains, is not a single self, but a “collection of existence” that includes the existence of the entire human being, as individuals and as a species.