| ISBN |
9780008321208 (paperback) |
| Name |
Godfrey-Smith, Peter author. |
| Title |
Metazoa : animal minds and the birth of consciousness / Peter Godfrey-Smith. |
| Published |
London : William Collins, 2020. |
| ©2020 |
| Description |
x, 336 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly colour) ; 24 cm. |
| Notes |
First published in the United States by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2020 as Metazoa : animal life and the birth of the mind. |
| Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-319) and index. |
| Summary |
In his acclaimed book, Other Minds, Peter Godfrey-Smith explored the mind of the octopus -- the closest thing to an intelligent alien on Earth. In Metazoa, he expands his inquiry to animals at large, investigating the evolution of experience with the assistance of far-flung species. Godfrey-Smith shows that the appearance of the first animal body form well over half a billion years ago was a profound innovation that set life upon a new path. He charts the ways that subsequent evolutionary developments -- eyes that track, for example, and bodies that move through and manipulate the environment -- shaped the lives of animals. Following the evolutionary paths of a glass sponge, soft coral, banded shrimp, octopus and fish, then moving onto land and the world of insects, birds and primates like ourselves, Metazoa gathers these stories together to bridge the gap between matter and mind and address one of the most important philosophical questions: what is the origin of consciousness? Combining vivid animal encounters with philosophy and biology, Metazoa reveals the impossibility of separating the evolution of our minds from the evolution of animals themselves. |
| Subjects |
Metazoa |
| Consciousness |
| Perception |
| Evolution (Biology) |
| Links to Related Works |
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