Cajal and Consciousness Scientific Approaches to Consciousness on the Centennial of Ramn Y Cajal's Textura

9780801872136

0801872138

This volume celebrates the centennial of the 1899 publication of "Textura del sistema nervioso del hombre y de los vertebrados" by Santiago Ramon y Cajal, long considered a masterpiece of Spanish science and perhaps the most influential work in the history of neuroscience. One hundred years ago, Cajal postulated most of the modern neuroscientific ideas of today: the "doctrine of the neuron," the evolutionary origins of nervous systems, the general architecture of central nervous systems, the structure of the cortex, interneuronal circuits, neurotropism of growing axons, plasticity of neuronal contacts, and theories on the neuronal basis of consciousness. The scientific approach to consciousness has become a focal point for interdisciplinary dialog at the turn of the new millennium. Contributors to this volume are leading figures in the field of modern neuroscience, plus an extraordinary group of polymaths, including Michael Arbib, Jean-Pierre Changeux, Gerald Edelman, Murray Gell-Mann, Stuart Hameroff, Francois Jacob, Eric Kandel, Rodolfo Llinas, Lynn Margulis, Harold Morowitz, Roger Penrose, Wolf Singer, and Lotfi Zadeh.