Refreshing perspective from a modern rational philosopher on the nature of consciousness.

I'm just getting into book called "Mind and Cosmos - Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False" written by a well respected philospher Thomas Nagle.

This book is the latest in his critique of reductionism, in which he argues against a reductionist view, and specifically the neo-Darwinian view, of the emergence of consciousness and the nature of mind in relationship to the cosmos around us. A key quote from the book which puts the whole of reality into a palatable context is:

"The great cognitive shift is an expansion of consciousness from the perspectival form contained in the lives of particular creatures to an objective, world encompassing form that exists both individually and intersubjectively. It was originally a biological evolutionary process, and in our species it has become a collective cultural process as well. Each of our lives is a part of the lengthy process of the universe gradually waking up and becoming aware of itself."

Awesome image by Alex Grey