The assimilation of many researches and theories on consciousness is what forms this awesome book written by Nicholas Humphrey. A very controversial topic in the psychology field is whether consciousness matters, the aim of this book is to explain what the matter is. It is written in a manner that ...
Review of Humphrey, N. (2006). Seeing Red: A study in consciousness.
Cambridge, MA, London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
The assimilation of many researches and theories on consciousness is what forms this awesome book
written by Nicholas Humphrey. A very controversial topic in the psychology field is whether consciousness
matters, the aim of this book is to explain what the matter is. It is written in a manner that even people
with no psychological background could understand. The language used is very simple. The whole book
emphasises on how different people sees red, this is called “Redding” in his book. The author, Nicholas
Humphrey, starts his book by referring to writings. The first one was a letter written to Lord Kames from
Thomas Reid. The second writing was an email sent to the Author by Joe King. Both these writings
questioned their own individual survival and the stability of their consciousness after his death. This book is
definitely daring addition to the list of studies on consciousness already conducted by many psychologists
and philosophers. This book revolves around the importance of consciousness and why it matters. In other
words, it is a simple question of our being and what makes us unique from animals; humans. In this book,
the author is going to argue that sensation and perception are two different things. This book is based on
his special lectures he gave as a guest at Harvard University in 2004. The language used in this book gives
an impression as if it were a live lecture and not just a book.
In the first chapter he criticises the definition of consciousness given by a British Psychologist, Stuart
Sutherland. The author claims that there are 48 websites that approved this definition; however, Nicolas
Humphrey disapproves of this. He then goes on to state three reasons why people still accept this
definition. Firstly, he claims that this definition has a quick impact on our metaphysical importance as
conscious is our enigma. Secondly, humans like the idea of having a secret knowledge. One’s own
consciousness is a secret to each and one of us. We all know what consciousness is but we cannot put it
into word; that is the beauty of consciousness, making it seem like our deep secret. Finally, the third reason
is that it is believed that the human minds sometimes do not accept scientific explanations. On the whole,
the author claims that consciousness is not just a biological phenomena, it is beyond that. Tom Nagel a
philosopher suggested that the answer to why consciousness matters could be our own perplexity.
Humphrey takes great pleasure in criticising the definition given by Sutherland. By using the word
impossible he has indeed defined what consciousness is: elusive, fascinating, impugned to define, impact
on evolution and lastly wrote a definition that is very significant to the study of consciousness. He describes
the setting very well to make it feel as if the reader was present. He simply states that the impersonal fact
here is that the screen is red and there is a light with wavelength of 760nm shining from the projector.
Viewer is referred to as S in his experiment. However the objective fact here is that nobody knows what is
going on in the viewers’ brain. This is a personal fact. The viewers seeing of red is different, and that is
where conscious becomes a matter of interest. He technically tries to suggest that consciousness is made
up of sensation and perception.
In chapter 2 and 3 the author talks about sensation being a matter impacting consciousness. There are two
concerns when it comes to sensation: propositional component and phenomenal component. Propositional
component is the concept of how things are (S being an observer) whereas phenomenal component is
about creating a seeing sensation (visual qualia) meaning S is the active author of the sensation. This
sensation is created due to the bodily action and expressions. When S is actively observing the red screen,
his feelings and opinions all are part of this sensation along with propositional components. From this
perspective, it is easier to describe his ideas. He made it clear that “Redding” is a visual sensation. This
represents the properties of the image meaning it has quality and valence. This is a physical fact, sensation
is the retinal image. Humphrey carried out an experiment with rhesus monkey to prove that colour
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