Explaining Consciousness

Explaining consciousness – what does that mean and how does it work? Wolfgang Prinz’s key idea, which he presents in this book, considers consciousness a social institution based on self-representation. Explaining consciousness therefore means explaining the mental self. The discussion focuses on the justification and elaboration of the idea itself on the one and on the characterisation of the social interaction processes that realise it on the other hand. Crucially, Prinz examines how the interplay of cognitive mechanisms and social practices can produce self-representation and thus consciousness.

»the most thorough discussion of relevant explanatory approaches« Thomas Thiel, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung