Navigating the book
You may wish to use the book in a different way, or to emphasise different parts of it, depending on whether your interest is primarily in philosophy, psychology, or neuroscience. In each case, begin with the brief introduction. This explains that each of the six sections is relatively independent, and can be used alone, but whichever sections you choose, first read Section One (or at least Chapters 1 and 2) on the nature of the problem. The introduction also explains the personal practice exercises that run throughout the book and the importance of balancing personal inquiry with academic study.
Here are some suggestions for using the book in different ways. The chapter summaries should also help you decide which sections of the book would be most useful for you.
If you are a lecturer who has used the book and have further suggestions that have worked for you please do let us know.
Philosophy
- Chapter 1 (includes material on the overlaps and distinctions between philosophical and psychological approaches to the problem of consciousness)
- Chapter 2 (includes sections on other minds and thought experiments)
- Chapter 7 (problems with the concept of attention)
- Chapter 9 (the logic and psychology of freedom of will)
- Chapter 16 (self)
- Chapter 17 (bringing in the first and the second person, including through phenomenology and neurophenomenology)
- You may also like to introduce students (in Chapters 10 and 11) to the basics of evolutionary theory, and the difficult question of whether consciousness has any function. Chapter 4 can be used as an introduction to the brain. The final chapter on spiritual aspects may also be of interest; it also includes some final thoughts about doubt, perplexity, and illusion.
Psychology
- If you are using this book primarily for psychology students then almost all of it is relevant. You may, however, wish to leave out Section Four on evolution and AI.
- Alternatively, you may wish to include parts of the book in a more general psychology course. The most relevant are as follows:
- Chapter 4 (neuroscience and the correlates of consciousness)
- Chapter 5 (the theatre of the mind)
- Chapter 8 (conscious and unconscious)
- Chapter 9 (agency and free will)
- Chapter 13 (altered states of consciousness)
- Chapter 15 (dreaming and beyond)
- Attention is likely to be covered in a psychology course but Chapter 7 considers how attention is related to consciousness. Chapter 17 delves into first- and second-person methods and phenomenology.
Neuroscience
- Students of neuroscience may wish to reach out into the topic of consciousness. Especially substantial connections with neuroscience are found in:
- Chapter 4 (neuroscience and the correlates of consciousness)
- Chapter 6 (the unity of consciousness)
- Chapter 9 (agency and free will, including the neuroanatomy of will, and Benjamin Libet’s famous experiments)
- Chapter 15 (dreaming and beyond, including lucid dreams and the dying-brain hypothesis for near-death experiences)
Other subsections that may be of interest:
- Chapter 7 includes material on neuroscientific studies related to meditation and attention (including the default mode network)
- Chapter 8 has a section on visual form agnosia and the dorsal and ventral streams of the visual system
- Chapter 12 deals with neural networks, computability, and comparing brains and computers
- Chapter 16 includes neuroscientific models of self
- Chapter 17 introduces neurophenomenology
