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The Mystery of the Mind: A Critical Study of Consciousness and the Human Brain
In the past fifty years scientists have begun to discover how the human brain functions. In this book Wilder Penfield, whose work has been at the forefront of such research, describes the current state of knowledge about the brain and asks to what extent recent findings explain the action of the mind. He offers the general reader a glimpse of exciting discoveries usually accessible to only a few scientists.
He writes: Throughout my own scientific career I, like other scientists, have struggled to prove that the brain accounts for the mind. But perhaps the time has come when we may profitably consider the evidence as it stands, and ask the question...Can the mind be explained by what is now known about the brain?
The central question, he points out, is whether man's being is determined by his body alone or by mind and body as separate elements. Before suggesting an answer, he gives a fascinating account of his experience as a neurosurgeon and scientist observing the brain in conscious patients.
Originally published in 1975.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
He writes: Throughout my own scientific career I, like other scientists, have struggled to prove that the brain accounts for the mind. But perhaps the time has come when we may profitably consider the evidence as it stands, and ask the question...Can the mind be explained by what is now known about the brain?
The central question, he points out, is whether man's being is determined by his body alone or by mind and body as separate elements. Before suggesting an answer, he gives a fascinating account of his experience as a neurosurgeon and scientist observing the brain in conscious patients.
Originally published in 1975.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
24 people are currently reading
749 people want to read
About the author
Wilder Penfield
48 books26 followersWilder Graves Penfield, OM, CC, CMG, FRS (January 26, 1891 – April 5, 1976) was a Canadian neurosurgeon. He devoted much thinking to the functionings of the mind, and continued until his death to contemplate whether there was any scientific basis for the existence of the human soul.
Penfield was born in Spokane, Washington (but spent most of his life in Hudson, Wisconsin) on January 25 or January 26, 1891. He studied at Princeton University where he played on the football team. After graduation in 1913, he was hired briefly as the coach. He then obtained a Rhodes Scholarship to Merton College, Oxford, where he studied neuropathology under Sir Charles Scott Sherrington. He obtained his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He spent several years training at Oxford, where he met William Osler. He also studied in Germany, and New York.]
After taking surgical apprenticeship under Harvey Cushing, he obtained a position at the Neurological Institute of New York, where he carried out his first solo operations against epilepsy.
Penfield was invited by Sir Vincent Meredith to Montreal in 1928. He taught at McGill University and the Royal Victoria Hospital, becoming the city's first neurosurgeon.
In 1934 he founded and became the first Director of McGill University's world-famous Montreal Neurological Institute and the associated Montreal Neurological Hospital, which was established with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, 1934 is also the year he became a Canadian citizen. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1950. He retired in 1960 and turned his attention to writing, producing a novel as well as his autobiography, No Man Alone. (A later biography, Something Hidden, was written by his grandson, Jefferson Lewis.)
He was awarded the 1960 Lister Medal for his contributions to surgical science. In 1967 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. In 1994 he was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. Much of his archival material is housed at the Osler Library of McGill University.
In his later years, Penfield dedicated himself to the public interest, particularly in support of university education. With his friends Governor-General Georges Vanier and Mrs. Pauline Vanier, née Archer, he co-founded the Vanier Institute of the Family, which Penfield helped found "to promote and guide education in the home -- man's first classroom." He was also an early proponent of bilingualism from childhood onward.
He died on April 5, 1976
Penfield was born in Spokane, Washington (but spent most of his life in Hudson, Wisconsin) on January 25 or January 26, 1891. He studied at Princeton University where he played on the football team. After graduation in 1913, he was hired briefly as the coach. He then obtained a Rhodes Scholarship to Merton College, Oxford, where he studied neuropathology under Sir Charles Scott Sherrington. He obtained his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He spent several years training at Oxford, where he met William Osler. He also studied in Germany, and New York.]
After taking surgical apprenticeship under Harvey Cushing, he obtained a position at the Neurological Institute of New York, where he carried out his first solo operations against epilepsy.
Penfield was invited by Sir Vincent Meredith to Montreal in 1928. He taught at McGill University and the Royal Victoria Hospital, becoming the city's first neurosurgeon.
In 1934 he founded and became the first Director of McGill University's world-famous Montreal Neurological Institute and the associated Montreal Neurological Hospital, which was established with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, 1934 is also the year he became a Canadian citizen. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1950. He retired in 1960 and turned his attention to writing, producing a novel as well as his autobiography, No Man Alone. (A later biography, Something Hidden, was written by his grandson, Jefferson Lewis.)
He was awarded the 1960 Lister Medal for his contributions to surgical science. In 1967 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. In 1994 he was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. Much of his archival material is housed at the Osler Library of McGill University.
In his later years, Penfield dedicated himself to the public interest, particularly in support of university education. With his friends Governor-General Georges Vanier and Mrs. Pauline Vanier, née Archer, he co-founded the Vanier Institute of the Family, which Penfield helped found "to promote and guide education in the home -- man's first classroom." He was also an early proponent of bilingualism from childhood onward.
He died on April 5, 1976
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 27, 2016
Wilder Penfield is famous in the annals of neuroscience for the cortical homunculous, the map that correlates areas of the brain to body regions/functions. Less well known is that over the course of his career and due to the work he was doing, he altered his philosophical stance on the nature of the human mind, switching from a materialist explanation to a dualist one. He wrote this book to explain what made him change his mind.
The book is far more of a negative argument (an explanation of why materialism cannot provide a sufficient explanation for the mind) than a positive one (an explanation of why dualism does). The author concedes this himself and towards the end of the book passes the torch on to future generations, hoping that they will take up the work he has began.
At 123 pages, the book does not suffer from any unnecessary verbiage. To use a public speaking analogy, the author stands up, says what he has to say, and sits down again. The text is introduced by a philosopher, peppered with diagrams that help explain the material, and is followed by a critique of the argument by a neurologist of the materialist persuasion which is in turn followed by a rebuttal from the author.
Aspiring Victor Frankenstein types will particularly benefit from learning what parts of the brain they need to stimulate with electricity to produce effects like speech aphasia and double streams of awareness in their hapless victims.
The book is far more of a negative argument (an explanation of why materialism cannot provide a sufficient explanation for the mind) than a positive one (an explanation of why dualism does). The author concedes this himself and towards the end of the book passes the torch on to future generations, hoping that they will take up the work he has began.
At 123 pages, the book does not suffer from any unnecessary verbiage. To use a public speaking analogy, the author stands up, says what he has to say, and sits down again. The text is introduced by a philosopher, peppered with diagrams that help explain the material, and is followed by a critique of the argument by a neurologist of the materialist persuasion which is in turn followed by a rebuttal from the author.
Aspiring Victor Frankenstein types will particularly benefit from learning what parts of the brain they need to stimulate with electricity to produce effects like speech aphasia and double streams of awareness in their hapless victims.
June 7, 2023
Nothing new for me. Style: so-so. Subject: fascinating, but no illumination for me.
to-keep-reference
November 4, 2019Penfield descubrió que mediante la estimulación de la corteza motriz de sus pacientes podía suscitar el movimiento de sus miembros.
La mente Pág.182-183
La mente Pág.182-183
October 5, 2012
If we actually *are* our brains, then shouldn't some center of the brain be generating our voluntary actions? And shouldn't it be possible to artificially stimulate that center so that the patient says: "I did that"? Through a long career as a brain surgeon, Penfield put this reasoning to the test. He stimulated every area of the cerebral cortex, and observed epilepsy in all areas of the brain, and yet no patient ever attributed the resulting actions or thoughts to his own volition. So where is the "I" located in the brain? This fascinating book is Penfield's meditation on that question.
February 3, 2010
In my top ten list. The title says it all.
May 26, 2020
Penfield makes some very interesting observations about the mind, based on his research conducted during brain surgeries on patients suffering with epilepsy.
September 1, 2024
A good account of Wilder Penfield’s account of consciousness! It was hard at times to understand the neuroscientific language and the scientific meaning of the text, even though it was written for the layman. Generally interesting read and he seems like a wholesome character with a passion for understanding the mind !
July 22, 2023
This is an amazing book for people who want to learn about the mind and body relationship. Are the body and mind connected? Are they two completed separate elements? How does one interact with the other?
January 25, 2020
interesting subject matter, but despite the fact that it says it’s written for a lay person, I found it to be dense with technical terms as a chemist with little neuroscience background
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews