Consciousness in Action

In this important book, Susan Hurley sheds new light on consciousness by examining its relationships to action from various angles. She assesses the role of agency in the unity of a conscious perspective, and argues that perception and action are more deeply interdependent than we usually assume. A standard view conceives perception as input from world to mind and action as output from mind to world, with the serious business of thought in between. Hurley criticizes this picture, and considers how the interdependence of perceptual experience and agency at the personal level (of mental contents and norms) may emerge from the subpersonal level (of underlying causal processes and complex dynamic feedback systems). Her two-level view has wide implications, for topics that include self-consciousness, the modularity of mind, and the relations of mind to world. The self no longer lurks hidden somewhere between perceptual input and behavioral output, but reappears out in the open, embodied and embedded in its environment.Hurley traces these themes from Kantian and Wittgensteinian arguments through to intriguing recent work in neuropsychology and in dynamic systems approaches to the mind, providing a bridge from mainstream philosophy to work in other disciplines. Consciousness in Action is unique in the range of philosophical and scientific work it draws on, and in the deep criticism it offers of centuries-old habits of thought.

[Consciousness in Action] is worth tackling, even for those who, like this reviewer, are not professional philosophers. Especially useful is the detailed discussion of the contributions of Kant and of Wittgenstein to contemporary philosophers, understanding of the mind, and the way these relate to the latest findings of neuropsychology...Although the chapters may be read as stand-alone essays, the volume has a unity of purpose and a clarity of argument that allow each section to feed into the others. The author suggests that 'the attentive reader will discern an overall plot and several subplots.' It might also be said that the book is an exemplar of its theme: the philosophy and the psychology, the theory and the practice, display an interdependence and mutual support that mirror the writer's claims for perception and action and the unity of consciousness., In this fascinating book Susan Hurley defends the thesis that action and perception are deeply and fundamentally intertwined, contrary to traditional assumptions in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science...Hurley has presented a wealth of enlightening information concerning action, perception, and mind. She has crafted a rich and impressive book that is required reading by researchers in philosophy and cognitive science. [Consciousness in Action] is a major contribution to the field., Questions involving the nature of conscious experience are some of the most central and most difficult facing philosophers, psychologists, ad cognitive neuroscientists...Hurley's Consciousness in Action tackle[s] the central historical questions head on in addition to proposing fruitful new hypotheses regarding the nature of self-consciousness, the unity of conscious experience, autonomy, and agency...Hurley develops the idea that perception and agency are coconstituted. This thesis stands contrary to the orthodox position that one perceives first, and only later acts upon one's perceptions. What makes Hurley so appealing is that she...bases her approach on a consideration of the more 'primitive' or 'subpersonal' elements that underlie conscious experience...She develops a dynamic systems approach to understanding the multilayered nature of consciousness and offers a convincing account of the closely interdependent nature of perception and agency...[Consciousness in Action] mark[s] the beginning of a new era in the study of human consciousness., Consciousness in Actionis an extremely impressive, stimulating contribution to current work on consciousness--a huge step forward from a largely stalemated debate about the existence or otherwise of qualia. At its core is a powerful, and, in my view, compelling case for treating the relation between experience and activity as pivotal to some of the deepest problems consciousness raises. Particularly original is Hurley's exceptionally well-informed use of intriguing psychological phenomena to drive home the rich array of specific philosophical problems she is concerned with about the relation between perception and action. Her solution to these, which involves recognizing a form of deep interdependence between perception, action and the world, draws on a synthesis of an extraordinarily wide range of materials, in philosophy, psychology and neuroscience. Altogether this is a truly remarkable book., This is a virtuosic book, displaying a quite remarkable breadth of vision. Susan Hurley's reflections on consciousness and action are original, deep, and challenging, and she shows herself to be completely at home with her subject matter, which ranges from psychology and neuroscience through to the finer points of Kant scholarship and Wittgenstein interpretation. The book challenges many current conceptions, and is likely to push the philosophy of mind--and indeed, our whole understanding of ourselves as embodied and embedded, experiencing and acting, subjects and agents--in new directions.

Susan L. Hurley (1954–2007) was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bristol.