In a wide-ranging series of conversations Jean-Pierre Changeux and Alain Connes discuss the development of the human brain as a function of natural selection and variation, debate the character of human intelligence (and the obstacles that stand in the way of simulating, modeling, or actually reproducing it by mechanical means), dispute the reasons for the "unreasonable effectiveness" of mathematics in explaining the physical world, and differ over the sources of mathematical creativity. In an epilogue they go on to inquire into the relation of mathematics and science to ethics, asking whether a code of human morality consistent with what is known about the structure and function of the human brain can be devised, and whether the "enlargement of human sympathies" hoped for by Darwin, Kropotkin, and others may be given a natural basis. This vivid record of profound disagreement, and, at the same time, passionate search for mutual understanding, follows in the modern tradition of Poincare, Turing, Hadamard, and von Neumann in probing the limits of human rationality and intellectual possibility. Why order should exist in the world at all - and why it should be comprehensible by human beings - is the question that lies at the heart of these remarkable dialogues.
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Jean-Pierre Changeux is Director of the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory at the Institut Pasteur in Paris and holds the Chair in Cellular Communications at the College de France.
"This wonderfully eloquent and playful colloquy of two brilliant minds gives new life to the old notion of Dialogue, a sadly forgotten form now.... Ilove this book!"--Oliver Sacks, M.D
"English-speaking readers can now benefit from the philosophical insights of two outstanding intellects--each a leader in his own field, each bringing his own distinctive perspective to deep and challenging issues.Conversations on Mind, Matter, and Mathematics is fascinating."--Roger Penrose
"It is a privilege to be permitted to eavesdrop on this fascinating conversation between two gifted individuals: a conversation that is remarkable for its erudition and that puts some very old questions into a very modern context."--Leon Cooper, Nobel Laureate in Physics
"This book is a superb guide to the philosophical ambiguities and contradictions that lie beneath the surface of science. Looking at the world as though 'through a glass darkly,' Changeux and Connes wind up seeing apparently irreconcilable realities. Their debate is likely to become a classic."--David Ruelle, Institut des Hautes études Scientifiques, Paris
"The concluding remarks on ethics, setting out the credo of the neuroscientist, are the highpoints of a quite remarkable book. I do not think this has ever been done in quite the same way. A brilliant performance."--Vernon B. Mountcastle, Johns Hopkins University
"This is not so much a book as a journey. Like all journeys, it is stimulating, widens one's horizons, and leaves one wishing one could stay longer. The reader is treated to an inside look at the workings of two great minds, and is privileged to enjoy their reflections on an unusually wide range of topics. This is not a book that narrowly focuses on mathematics or neuroscience; it is a set of deep insights and provocative speculations about the nature of reality and what we can know about it."--Stephen M. Kosslyn, Harvard University
"There are so many 'points of intellectual light' within the framework of this magnificent book that one should take the opportunity to study each page with as much care as one would exercise in viewing a beautiful piece of crystal or examining a fine painting. The authors truly probe the very limits of human understanding. . . . "--Robert J. White, M.D., Ph.D.,Commonweal
"Two leading giants face off: the biologist Jean-Pierre Changeux, leading neuroscientist and author of Neuronal Man, and the philosopher Paul Ricoeur, eminent apostle of phenomenology and author of Living Metaphors. The two develop...a true exchange of ideas, breaking with the preemptory affirmations and unilateral critiques which have too often characterized relations between science and philosophy."--Gérard Badu,Le Nouvel Observateur
"The materialist neurobiologist and the philosopher establish a no-holds-barred dialogue, which has resulted in a captivating book: often demanding, but always free of jargon. This exceptional initiative should be a milestone in the history of ideas."--Jean-Claude Escaffit, La Vie
"A rich dialogue, insofar as the two men belong to divergent currents of thought. . .neither a sham exchange of blows nor an intellectual compromise on either side. . .This exchange constitutes the most successful exercise of its type. . .it throws the perspectives right open."--Yves Christen, Nouveuté
"This wonderfully eloquent and playful colloquy of two brilliant minds gives new life to the old notion of Dialogue, a sadly forgotten form now.... I love this book!"--Oliver Sacks, M.D
"English-speaking readers can now benefit from the philosophical insights of two outstanding intellects--each a leader in his own field, each bringing his own distinctive perspective to deep and challenging issues. Conversations on Mind, Matter, and Mathematics is fascinating."--Roger Penrose
"It is a privilege to be permitted to eavesdrop on this fascinating conversation between two gifted individuals: a conversation that is remarkable for its erudition and that puts some very old questions into a very modern context."--Leon Cooper, Nobel Laureate in Physics
"This book is a superb guide to the philosophical ambiguities and contradictions that lie beneath the surface of science. Looking at the world as though 'through a glass darkly,' Changeux and Connes wind up seeing apparently irreconcilable realities. Their debate is likely to become a classic."--David Ruelle, Institut des Hautes tudes Scientifiques, Paris
"The concluding remarks on ethics, setting out the credo of the neuroscientist, are the highpoints of a quite remarkable book. I do not think this has ever been done in quite the same way. A brilliant performance."--Vernon B. Mountcastle, Johns Hopkins University
"This is not so much a book as a journey. Like all journeys, it is stimulating, widens one's horizons, and leaves one wishing one could stay longer. The reader is treated to an inside look at the workings of two great minds, and is privileged to enjoy their reflections on an unusually wide range of topics. This is not a book that narrowly focuses on mathematics or neuroscience; it is a set of deep insights and provocative speculations about the nature of reality and what we can know about it."--Stephen M. Kosslyn, Harvard University
"There are so many 'points of intellectual light' within the framework of this magnificent book that one should take the opportunity to study each page with as much care as one would exercise in viewing a beautiful piece of crystal or examining a fine painting. The authors truly probe the very limits of human understanding. . . . "--Robert J. White, M.D., Ph.D., Commonweal
"Two leading giants face off: the biologist Jean-Pierre Changeux, leading neuroscientist and author of Neuronal Man, and the philosopher Paul Ricoeur, eminent apostle of phenomenology and author of Living Metaphors. The two develop...a true exchange of ideas, breaking with the preemptory affirmations and unilateral critiques which have too often characterized relations between science and philosophy."--Grard Badu, Le Nouvel Observateur
"The materialist neurobiologist and the philosopher establish a no-holds-barred dialogue, which has resulted in a captivating book: often demanding, but always free of jargon. This exceptional initiative should be a milestone in the history of ideas."--Jean-Claude Escaffit, La Vie
"A rich dialogue, insofar as the two men belong to divergent currents of thought. . .neither a sham exchange of blows nor an intellectual compromise on either side. . .This exchange constitutes the most successful exercise of its type. . .it throws the perspectives right open."--Yves Christen, Nouveut
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Hardcover. Zustand: Fine. Zustand des Schutzumschlags: Fine. 1st Edition. Xii, 260 Pp. Green Cloth, Spine Gilt. First English Language Printing Indicated. Fine In Fine Dust Jacket. Ownership Note Of Professor Roger Jelliffe Dated 5/18/95. Artikel-Nr. 055895
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Hardcover. Zustand: Near Fine. 8vo (22 cm), XII, 261 pp. Publisher's cloth and dust jacket (top edge slightly stained). "Do numbers and the other objects of mathematics enjoy a timeless existence independent of human minds, or are they the products of cerebral invention? Do we discover them, as Plato supposed and many others have believed since, or do we construct them? Does mathematics constitute a universal language that in principle would permit human beings to communicate with extraterrestrial civilizations elsewhere in the universe, or is it merely an earthly language that owes its accidental existence to the peculiar evolution of neuronal networks in our brains? Does the physical world actually obey mathematical laws, or does it seem to conform to them simply because physicists have increasingly been able to make mathematical sense of it? Jean-Pierre Changeux, an internationally renowned neurobiologist, and Alain Connes, one of the most eminent living mathematicians, find themselves deeply divided by these questions." (from the blurb). Artikel-Nr. 008275
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