L’io della mente: Fantasie e riflessioni sul sé e sull’anima

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Ever wondered who you really are? This collection enlivens this central question in the philosophy of mind. The questions posed in this book are at the heart of all philosophical reasoning. They're the ultimate questions about the self. The Mind's I contains a variety of approaches to answering the question, "Who am I?" Editors Hofstadter & Dennett--leading lights in the study of cognitive science, artificial intelligence & the philosophy of mind--follow each selection with short reflections designed to elaborate on main themes. The Mind's I broadens their fields to a general audience. The book's essays are grouped into six categories, each successively raising the philosophical stakes by introducing new levels of complexity. Ultimately, one confronts some of the thorniest questions in modern philosophy, such as the nature of free will, our place in the metaphysical world & the possibility of artificial intelligence. The book closes with a perplexing piece by Robert Nozick, an adequate summation to The Mind's I. He writes, "Perhaps God has not decided yet whether he has created, in this world, a fictional world or a real one...Which decision do you hope for?"--Eric de Place
Preface
Introduction
Borges & I/ Jorge Luis Borges
On having no head/ D.E. Harding
Rediscovering the mind/ Harold J. Morowitz
Computing machinery & intelligence/ A.M. Turing
The Turing test: a coffeehouse conversation/ Douglas R. Hofstadter
The Princess Ineffabelle/ Stanislaw Lem
The soul of Martha, a beast/ Terrel Miedaner
The soul of the Mark III Beast/ Terrel Miedaner
Spirit/ Allen Whellis
Selfish genes & selfish memes/ Richard Dawkins
Prelude...ant fugue/ Douglas Hofstadter
The story of a brain/ Arnold Zuboff
Where am I? / Daniel C. Dennett
Where was I?/ David Hawley Sanford
Beyond rejection/ Justin Leiber
Software/ Rudy Rucker
The riddle of the Universe & its solution/ Christopher Cherniak
The 7th Sally or How Trurl's own perfection led to no good/ Stanislaw Lem
Non serviam/ Statislaw Lem
Is God a Taoist?/ Raymond M. Smullyan
The circular ruins/ Jorge Luis Borges
Minds, brains & programs/ John R. Searle
An unfortunate dualist/ Raymond M. Smullyan
What is it like to be a bat?/ Thomas Nagel
An espistemological nightmare/ Raymond M. Smullyan
A conversation with Einstein's brain/ Douglas R. Hofstadter
Fiction/ Robert Nozick
Further Reading
Acknowledgments
Index