Georg Northoff Livres

Georg Northoff presents the first introduction to neuropsychoanalysis and the search for a brain-based understanding and explanation of our psyche and its psychodynamic features.

Exploring the intersection of psychoanalysis and neuroscience, this book delves into the concept of the Self, analyzing its dynamics from both psychological and neuronal perspectives. It offers insights into how these two fields inform each other, enhancing our understanding of human behavior and mental processes. By bridging these disciplines, the work presents a comprehensive view of the Self, emphasizing its complexity and the interplay between mind and brain.

Exploring the relationship between self and consciousness with neural events, this book delves into models addressing the mind/brain problem and recent findings on brain mechanisms. It offers a spatiotemporal perspective that enhances our understanding of consciousness and its implications for artificial intelligence, innovative psychiatric therapies, and broader ethical and philosophical considerations. The text serves as a comprehensive resource for those interested in the intersection of neuroscience, psychology, and societal issues.

The book challenges the traditional mind-body problem by proposing a focus on the world-brain relationship instead. Georg Northoff argues that the mind-body debate is conceptually flawed and suggests that understanding consciousness and mental features requires a broader perspective. He advocates for a Copernican revolution in philosophy, shifting the focus from internal mental states to the external interactions between the world and the brain. This new approach aims to provide a more coherent framework for examining the nature of consciousness and related phenomena.

Applying insights from neuroscience to philosophical questions about the self, consciousness and the healthy mind.

The connection of the brain to the mind remains one of the most persistent mysteries in philosophy and neuroscience. Georg Northoff proposes a new approach to the so-called mind-body problem, drawing on an insight from physics: time structures all objects and events in the world, and all objects and events are in dynamic relationship. This also shapes the brain as it is part of the dynamic of the world as whole. In Neurowaves Northoff posits that the entire world is structured by waves of time and argues that the passing of these waves through our brains - neurowaves - produces mental experience. The brain's neural waves transform into mental waves; time and its dynamics are shared by brain and mind as their common currency. As in physics and biology, that radically changes our view. Copernicus showed how the earth moves and that its movements are just a tiny part of the universe's passage of time. Darwin showed that the human species is one among many species passing through evolution's timescales. Northoff calls for another Copernican revolution, replacing the mind-body problem with questions about the temporal-dynamic relationship between brain and world. Illustrated with vivid examples from different facets of the physical and biological world, Neurowaves provides captivating insights and an innovative, entertaining unravelling of the temporal connection of brain and mind.

Alle reden vom Gehirn. Auch Annalena von Freihausen, in China aufgewachsene Kulturanthropologin, und der deutsche Neurowissenschaftler Felix Trittau tun dies. Und sie stolpern in ihren Gesprächen immer wieder über große Unterschiede in Wahrnehmung und Denken von Menschen verschiedener kultureller Herkunft. Tickt das Gehirn eines Chinesen anders als das eines Amerikaners? Lassen sich kulturelle Unterschiede in Gehirnstrukturen erkennen? Wie nehmen Menschen in verschiedenen Regionen der Welt Emotionen wahr, ihre eigenen ebenso wie die ihrer Mitmenschen? Wie kommt die Welt ins Gehirn - aber vor allem: Wie kommt die Kultur in Kopf? Fragen wie diese stehen im Mittelpunkt einer spannenden neuen Forschungsrichtung: der kulturellen Neurowissenschaften. Georg Northoff gelingt es in diesem ungewöhnlich Buch, deren Faszination einzufangen und eigene Denkprozesse anzuregen.

Ist ein Mensch nach einem operativ-implantativen Eingriff in sein Gehirn noch derselbe Mensch? Nach welchen Kriterien beurteilen wir die personale Identität eines Menschen, und bei welchen Veränderungen würden wir von einem Verlust der “Persönlichkeit” sprechen? Das Ziel des Buches liegt in einer Verknüpfung philosophischer Theorien zur personalen Identität mit neurowissenschaftlichen Befunden zur Funktion des Gehirns bei operativen Eingriffen.