my mind on books

The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Emotion (Oxford Handbooks in Philosophy) ed. by Peter Goldie (Oxford University Press, 2010)

(link for UK – published Dec 2009)

Product description from the publisher:

This volume contains thirty-one state-of-the-art contributions from leading figures in the study of emotion today. The volume addresses all the central philosophical issues in current emotion research, including: the nature of emotion and of emotional life; the history of emotion from Plato to Sartre; emotion and practical reason; emotion and the self; emotion, value, and morality; and emotion, art and aesthetics.

Anyone interested in the philosophy of emotion, and its wide-ranging implications in other related fields such as morality and aesthetics, will want to consult this book. It will be a vital resource not only for scholars and graduate students but also for undergraduates who are finding their way into this fascinating topic

See also: Table of contents

The Oxford Handbook of Causation (Oxford Handbooks) ed. by Helen Beebee, Christopher Hitchcock and Peter Menzies (Oxford, 2010)

(link for UK – published Nov 2009)

Product description from the publisher:

Causation is a central topic in many areas of philosophy. In metaphysics, philosophers want to know what causation is, and how it is related to laws of nature, probability, action, and freedom of the will. In epistemology, philosophers investigate how causal claims can be inferred from statistical data, and how causation is related to perception, knowledge and explanation. In the philosophy of mind, philosophers want to know whether and how the mind can be said to have causal efficacy, and in ethics, whether there is a moral distinction between acts and omissions and whether the moral value of an act can be judged according to its consequences. And causation is a contested concept in other fields of enquiry, such as biology, physics, and the law.
This book provides an in-depth and comprehensive overview of these and other topics, as well as the history of the causation debate from the ancient Greeks to the logical empiricists. The chapters provide surveys of contemporary debates, while often also advancing novel and controversial claims; and each includes a comprehensive bibliography and suggestions for further reading. The book is thus the most comprehensive source of information about causation currently available, and will be invaluable for upper-level undergraduates through to professional philosophers.

Prices can change without notice, but right now Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill by Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard is free $1.99 (as of Jan 10) for the Kindle. (Or PC or iPhone…)

See also: Matthieu Ricard’s website

The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World by Iain McGilchrist (Yale University Press, 2009)
(link for UK)

Product description from the publisher:

Why is the brain divided? The difference between right and left hemispheres has been puzzled over for centuries. In a book of unprecedented scope, Iain McGilchrist draws on a vast body of recent brain research, illustrated with case histories, to reveal that the difference is profound—not just this or that function, but two whole, coherent, but incompatible ways of experiencing the world. The left hemisphere is detail oriented, prefers mechanisms to living things, and is inclined to self-interest, where the right hemisphere has greater breadth, flexibility, and generosity. This division helps explain the origins of music and language, and casts new light on the history of philosophy, as well as on some mental illnesses.

In the second part of the book, McGilchrist takes the reader on a journey through the history of Western culture, illustrating the tension between these two worlds as revealed in the thought and belief of thinkers and artists, from Aeschylus to Magritte. He argues that, despite its inferior grasp of reality, the left hemisphere is increasingly taking precedence in the modern world, with potentially disastrous consequences. This is truly a tour de force that should excite interest in a wide readership.

See also: Author’s website, including a pdf of the introduction

This Emotional Life is hosted by Dr Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness. Three 2-hr episodes will be shown this coming week – Jan. 4, 5, 6.

The Human Spark, a look at “the nature of human uniqueness” with Alan Alda, is airing Jan 6, 13, & 20, 2010.

Based on a search of Worldcat, here are some of the books on cognitive science, cognitive psychology, or cognition coming in 2010, with expected month of publication in the US & links to Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk:

The Architect’s Brain: Neuroscience, Creativity, and Architecture by Harry Francis Mallgrave (Chichester, West Sussex, U.K.; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010). [published Dec 2009 but copyright 2010] (link for UK)

The Brain and the Meaning of Life by Paul Thagard (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2010). [March 2010] (link for UK)

Cognition and Conditionals: Probability and Logic in Human Thinking by M Oaksford; Nick Chater (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2010). [April 2010] (link for UK)

Cognitive Pragmatics: The Mental Processes of Communication by Bruno G Bara (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2010). [June 2010] (link for UK)

Cognitive Psychology Perspectives (Psychology Research Progress) by Giacomo Salvati; Valeria Rabuano (Hauppauge, N.Y.: Nova Science ; Lancaster: Gazelle [distributor], 2010). [April 2010] (link for UK)

The Extended Mind (Life and Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology) ed. by Richard Menary (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2010). [June 2010] (link for UK)

Gaming and Cognition: Theories and Practice from the Learning Sciences by Richard Van Eck (Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference, 2010). [March 2010] (link for UK)

How the Mind Uses the Brain: To Move the Body and Image the Universe by Ralph D Ellis; Natika Newton (Chicago, Ill.: Open Court, 2010). [June 2010] (link for UK)

Introduction to Cognitive Cultural Studies ed. by Lisa Zunshine (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010). [June 2010] (link for UK)

The Making of Human Concepts ed. by Denis Mareschal; Paul C Quinn; S E G Lea (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010). [May 2010] (link for UK)

Natural Reflections: Human Cognition at the Nexus of Science and Religion (The Terry Lectures Series) by Barbara Herrnstein Smith (New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, 2010). [Jan 2010 – in print]

The Neurocognition of Dance: Mind, Movement and Motor Skills ed. by Bettina Bläsing; Martin Puttke; Thomas Schack (Hove: Psychology, 2010). [April 2010] (link for UK)

Psychology Around Us by Ronald J Comer; Elizabeth Gould (Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley; Chichester: John Wiley [distributor], 2010). [Jan. 2010 – textbook] (link for UK)

Religious Narrative, Cognition and Culture: Image and Word in the Mind of Narrative (Religion, Cognition, and Culture) ed. by Armin W Geertz; Jeppe Sinding Jensen (London; Oakville, CT: Equinox Pub. Ltd., 2010). [Aug. 2010] (link for UK)

The Science of Social Vision ed. by Reginald B Adams; et al (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010). [March 2010]

Structured Worlds: The Archaeology of Hunter-Gatherer Thought and Action (Approaches to Anthropological Archaeology) by Aubrey Cannon (Oakville, CT: Equinox Pub., 2010). [March 2010] (link for UK)

Thinking Visually by Stephen K Reed (New York: Psychology Press, 2010). [Jan. 2010] (link for UK)

Toward a Cognitive Theory of Narrative Acts ed. by Frederick Luis Aldama (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010). [June 2010] (link for UK)

Toward an Anthropology of the Will ed. by Keith M Murphy; C Jason Throop (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2010). [Feb. 2010] (link for UK)

Trust Theory: A Socio-Cognitive and Computational Model (Wiley Series in Agent Technology) by Cristiano Castelfranchi; Rino Falcone
(Chichester : John Wiley & Sons, 2010). [May 2010] (link for UK)