{"product_id":"from-sensing-to-sentience-isbn-9780262550956","title":"From Sensing to Sentience","description":"\u003cb\u003eA new theory of \u003ci\u003eNeurobiological Emergentism\u003c\/i\u003e that explains how sentience emerges from the brain.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSentience is the \u003ci\u003efeeling \u003c\/i\u003easpect of consciousness. In \u003ci\u003eFrom Sensing to Sentience\u003c\/i\u003e, Todd Feinberg develops a new theory called \u003ci\u003eNeurobiological Emergentism (NBE) \u003c\/i\u003ethat integrates biological, neurobiological, evolutionary, and philosophical perspectives to explain how sentience naturally emerges from the brain.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEmergent properties are broadly defined as features of a complex system that are not present in the parts of a system when they are considered in isolation but may emerge as a \u003ci\u003esystem feature\u003c\/i\u003e of those parts and their interactions. Tracing a journey of billions of years of evolution from life to the basic sensing capabilities of single-celled organisms up to the sentience of animals with advanced nervous systems, including all vertebrates (for instance, fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals), arthropods (insects and crabs), and cephalopods such as the octopus, Feinberg argues that sentience gradually but eventually emerged along diverse evolutionary lines with the evolution of sufficiently neurobiologically complex brains during the Cambrian period over 520 million years ago.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUltimately, Feinberg argues that viewing sentience as an emergent process can explain both its neurobiological basis as well its perplexing \u003ci\u003epersonal nature\u003c\/i\u003e, thus solving the historical philosophical problem of the apparent “explanatory gap” between the brain and experience.Preface\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e1 Introduction\u003cbr\u003e2 General features of biological emergence\u003cbr\u003e3 The neurobiological and behavioral criteria for sentience\u003cbr\u003e4 The stages of the emergence of sentience\u003cbr\u003e5 Emergent Stage 1. Single-celled organisms and the emergence of sensing\u003cbr\u003e6 Emergent Stage 2. Neurons, nervous systems and evolutionarily early brains\u003cbr\u003e7 Emergent Stage 3. Animals with more neurobiologically evolved nervous systems and brains\u003cbr\u003e8 Neurobiology, emergent “levels,” and sentience\u003cbr\u003e9 Neurobiological emergentism\u003cbr\u003e10 Demystifying the personal nature of sentience\u003cbr\u003e11 Neurobiological emergentism\u003cbr\u003eEpilogue\u003cbr\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003eReferences“By focusing on sentience and placing it in an evolutionary context, Feinberg has created a compelling argument that the principles of neurobiological emergentism can aid our attempts to understand the brain and consciousness.”\u003ci\u003e \u003cb\u003e—The Lancet Neurology\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Artificial sensors can detect and react to sensory input without feeling a thing; AI can do even more. Why can’t organisms do the same, without sentience?  Neurologist Todd Feinberg tries to answer this question through the gradual “emergence” of sentience from unfelt sensing across billions of years of evolution. Has he succeeded? The reader must judge, but the voyage cannot fail to be a charged one.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Stevan Harnad, Professor of Psychology, University of Quebec in Montreal\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The hard problems and explanatory gaps of consciousness are a principle focus here, where the author, a biological realist, takes a bottom-up, evolutionary perspective, with a particular focus on sentience as the basic issue to be explained. His exposition is thoughtful and conversational, with insights along the way even for those who might take a different stance on the nature and source of conscious experience.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Thurston Lacalli, Biology Department, University of Victoria\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eFeinberg traces a link from the onset of life to the emergence of sentience (the “feeling” aspect of consciousness) that is among the clearest, most comprehensive, and insightful of any writing on the subject available at the present time. Through lucid prose in stepwise fashion, his book shows how sentience arose as a natural embodied process within the material elements of nervous systems that evolved in different directions. He skillfully explains why sentience is personal, with no real gap between the subjective nature of experience, its qualitative attributes, and the material elements that give rise to it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Louis N. Irwin Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eTodd E. Feinberg is Director of the Yarmon Neurobehavior and Alzheimer’s Disease Center of Mount Sinai Behavioral Health Center in New York City and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. He is coauthor of \u003ci\u003eThe Ancient Origins of Consciousness\u003c\/i\u003e (MIT Press).","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302279958757,"sku":"NP9780262550956","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262550956.jpg?v=1767727748","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/from-sensing-to-sentience-isbn-9780262550956","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}