Upheavals of Thought

Upheavals of Thought
Name	Upheavals of Thought
Author	Antonio Damasio
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Neuroscience, emotion, consciousness
Publisher	William Morrow
Pub date	2000
Pages	512
Isbn	0684863946

Upheavals of Thought

Upheavals of Thought is a 2000 book by neuroscientist Antonio Damasio that argues for the centrality of emotion to mind and consciousness. The work synthesizes clinical case studies, experimental findings, and theoretical analysis to link brain structures to subjective experience, and it situates these claims within broader debates among thinkers like Sigmund Freud, William James, René Descartes, Immanuel Kant and contemporaries such as Noam Chomsky. Damasio advances a model that connects neural substrates in the brainstem, limbic system, and prefrontal cortex to feeling and decision-making, engaging with research from institutions like the Salk Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and University of Iowa.

Overview and Thesis

Damasio proposes that feeling emerges from brain-based representations of the body's homeostatic states, arguing against strict separations between reason and emotion found in the work of Descartes, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and critics such as Daniel Dennett. He forwards concepts like "proto-self", "core consciousness", and "extended consciousness", building on earlier studies by Paul Broca, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Wilder Penfield, Harlow, and clinical observations linked to patients treated at Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and the Istituto Nazionale Neurologico Carlo Besta. The thesis aligns with neuroanatomical findings from laboratories including Harvard Medical School, the University of California, San Diego, and the National Institutes of Health.

Background and Context

The book emerges amid late-20th-century advances in neuroimaging and cognitive science, following influential works by Oliver Sacks, Eric Kandel, V. S. Ramachandran, Michael Gazzaniga, and Antonio R. Damasio's own earlier studies funded by agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Mental Health. It responds to philosophical traditions represented by Aristotle, David Hume, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and modern theorists like Jerry Fodor and Hilary Putnam, while interacting with empirical programs at centers such as the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University College London, and Stanford University. The historical context includes clinical syndromes first described by Jean-Martin Charcot, Alois Alzheimer, and case narratives popularized by Oliver Sacks in hospitals like Beth Israel.

Key Figures and Contributors

Primary author Antonio Damasio synthesizes contributions from neuroscientists and clinicians including Joseph LeDoux, Jaak Panksepp, Norman Geschwind, Lisa Feldman Barrett, Karl Lashley, and neuropsychologists at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and Mount Sinai Hospital. The book engages with philosophers and cognitive scientists such as Daniel Kahneman, Amos Tversky, Patricia Churchland, Paul Churchland, John Searle, and experimentalists at Columbia University, Yale University, and the University of Oxford. Damasio references patients like the famous case reported by Phineas Gage and studies from laboratories including the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the Monell Chemical Senses Center.

Philosophical Themes and Concepts

Damasio critiques Cartesian dualism associated with Descartes and revisits empiricist and rationalist debates involving Locke, Hume, Kant, and Spinoza, while dialoguing with contemporary philosophers Thomas Nagel and Francis Crick. He offers naturalistic accounts resonant with concepts advanced by William James and integrates psychological findings from Sigmund Freud's clinical legacy and neuroscientific models advanced by Wilder Penfield and Eric Kandel. Core concepts—proto-self, core consciousness, and extended consciousness—are tied to neural structures discussed in studies at Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, and the California Institute of Technology, and engage debates in cognitive science exemplified by Noam Chomsky and Daniel Dennett.

Reception and Impact

The book received attention across disciplines, reviewed in venues connected to Nature, Science, The New York Times, and journals linked to Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press, and it influenced research programs at institutions such as the Salk Institute, MIT, UCL, and the NIH. Scholars like Joseph LeDoux, Jaak Panksepp, Lisa Feldman Barrett, and Michael Gazzaniga cited it in discussions on emotion, consciousness, and decision-making, and it informed clinical perspectives used at Massachusetts General Hospital and Mayo Clinic. The work contributed to interdisciplinary curricula at Harvard University, Stanford University, and UC Berkeley and intersected with ethical debates involving American Psychological Association and policy dialogues at UNESCO.

Criticisms and Controversies

Critics from philosophical camps including Daniel Dennett, John Searle, and Jerry Fodor questioned Damasio's interpretations of consciousness, while experimentalists such as Christof Koch and Patricia Churchland debated the sufficiency of the neural correlates he emphasizes. Empirical critiques emerged from laboratories at MIT, Caltech, and Max Planck Institutes challenging aspects of the proto-self model, and historians of science like Gerald Edelman and commentators at The Lancet debated clinical generalizations drawn from case studies. Ethical and epistemological concerns were raised in forums linked to American Academy of Neurology and academic presses like Routledge.

Category:Books about neuroscience