MARC Record from Library of Congress

LEADER: 02858nam a2200349 a 4500
001 2007310563
003 DLC
005 20090504100913.0
008 070927s2007 nyuaf b 001 0 eng c
010 $a 2007310563
015 $aGBA627447$2bnb
016 7 $a013414690$2Uk
020 $a0465030785
020 $a9780465030781
035 $a(OCoLC)ocm64554976
040 $aUKM$cUKM$dBAKER$dIUL$dYDXCP$dKUT$dVP@$dIXA$dBUR$dIQU$dBTCTA$dNLGGC$dDLC
042 $apcc
084 $a08.36$2bcl
050 00 $aBD438.5$b.H64 2007
100 1 $aHofstadter, Douglas R.,$d1945-
245 10 $aI am a strange loop /$cDouglas Hofstadter.
260 $aNew York :$bBasic Books,$cc2007.
300 $axix, 412 p., [4] p. of plates :$bill. (some col.) ;$c25 cm.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [377]-382) and index.
505 0 $aPreface: an author and his book -- An affable locking of horns -- On souls and their sizes -- This teetering bulb of dread and dream -- The causal potency of patterns -- Loops, goals, and loopholes -- On video feedback -- Of selves and symbols -- The epi phenomenon -- Embarking on a strange-loop safari -- Pattern and provability -- Gödel's quintessential strange loop -- How analogy makes meaning -- On downward causality -- The elusive apple of my "I" -- Strangeness in the "I" of the beholder -- Entwinement -- Grappling with the deepest mystery -- How we live in each other -- The blurry glow of human identity -- Consciousness = thinking -- A courteous crossing of words -- A brief brush with Cartesian egos -- A tango with zombies and dualism -- Killing a couple of sacred cows -- On magnanimity and friendship -- Epilogue: the quandary.
520 $aHofstadter's long-awaited return to the themes of Gödel, Escher, Bach--an original and controversial view of the nature of consciousness and identity. What do we mean when we say "I"? Can a self, a soul, a consciousness, an "I" arise out of mere matter? If it cannot, then how can you or I be here? This book argues that the key to understanding selves and consciousness is a special kind of abstract feedback loop inhabiting our brains. Deep down, a human brain is a chaotic soup of particles, on a higher level it is a jungle of neurons, and on a yet higher level it is a network of abstractions that we call "symbols." The most central and complex symbol in your brain or mine is the one we both call "I." But how can such a mysterious abstraction be real--or is our "I" merely a convenient fiction?--From publisher description.
650 0 $aSelf (Philosophy)
650 0 $aConsciousness.
650 0 $aIntellect.
650 0 $aSoul.
856 42 $3Contributor biographical information$uhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0831/2007310563-b.html
856 42 $3Publisher description$uhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0831/2007310563-d.html