Jean-Paul Sartre, the seminal smarty-pants of mid-century thinking, launched the existentialist fleet with the publication of Being and Nothingness in 1943. Though the book is thick, dense, and unfriendly to careless readers, it is indispensable to those interested in the philosophy of consciousness and free will. Some of his arguments are fallacious, others are unclear, but for the most part Sartre's thoughts penetrate deeply into fundamental philosophical territory. Basing his conception of self-consciousness loosely on Heidegger's "being," Sartre proceeds to sharply delineate between conscious actions ("for themselves") and unconscious ("in themselves"). It is a conscious choice, he claims, to live one's life "authentically" and in a unified fashion, or not--this is the fundamental freedom of our lives. Drawing on history and his own rich imagination for examples, Sartre offers compelling supplements to his more formal arguments. The waiter who detaches himself from his job-role sticks in the reader'

From some of the 20th century's greatest thinkers, essays ontopics as diverse as artificial intelligence, evolution, sciencefiction, philosophy, reductionism, and consciousness Withcontributions from Jorge Luis Borges, Richard Dawkins, John Searle,and Robert Nozick, The Mind's I explores the meaning of self andconsciousness through the perspectives of literature, artificialintelligence, psychology, and other disciplines. In selections thatrange from fiction to scientific speculations about thinkingmachines, artificial intelligence, and the nature of the brain,Hofstadter and Dennett present a variety of conflicting visions ofthe self and the soul as explored through the writings of some ofthe twentieth century's most renowned thinkers.

A brilliant account of the life of one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century. Popper also explains some of the central ideas in his work, making this ideal reading for anyone coming to his life and work for the first time.