Max Bennett - Recent major publications

	Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience M.R. Bennett and P.M.S Hacker Harwood Academic Publishers In this provocative work, a distinguished philosopher and a leading neuroscientist outline the conceptual problems at the heart of congnitive neuroscience. Writing from a scientifically and philosophically informed perspective, the authors provide a critical overview of the conceptual difficulties encountered in many current neuroscientific and psychological theories, including those of Blakemore, Crick, Damasio, Edelman, Gazzaniga, Kandel, Kosslyn, LeDoux, Penrose and Weiskrantz. They propose that conceptual confusions about how the brain relates to the mind affect the intelligibility of research carried out by neuroscientists, in terms of the questions they choose to address, the description and interpretation of results and the conclusions they draw. The book forms both a critique of the practice of cognitive neuroscience and a conceptual handbook for students and researchers.

	History of the Synapse M.R. Bennett Harwood Academic Publishers This work is an attempt to provide a history of those discoveries concerning the identificaion and function of synapses that provide the foundations of research during this new century. It is written in the conviction that error in the development and application of contemporary concepts to the understanding of synapses arise if there is failure to probe the origins of the scientific paradigm at present in use. The first chapter considers the wonderful story, evolving over two and half thousand years, of how progress was made in the establishment of a conceptual structure that would allow the recognition of the synapse at the beginning of the twentieth century. The 1950s were a remarkable period for central synaptic transmission. Amino-acids were identified as likely central transmitters and then neuroleptic agents were synthesised and shown to act at central monoaminergic synapses in ways which were to have a profound impact on the alleviation of mental suffering. As the pace of research on synapses accelerated in the 1970s, three further discoveries were made that have now become principle foci of research: the phenomenon of long-term potentiation of transmission; the discovery that synapse formation molecules exist; and the first analysis of transmitter receptors at the single receptor level. This history provides a view of the process by which new concepts concerning the workings of the synapse have developed. It is written in the hope that others might share in the excitement of synaptic physiology, and that perhaps it may even help them in placing the development of their own concepts and research in a historical perspective.

	The Idea of Consciousness M.R. Bennett Harwood Academic Publishers In the Idea of Consciousness, Max Bennett, eminent neuroscientist, makes an eloquent and engagin presentation of the notion of consciousness as it can be described and understood by contemporary neuroscience without ignoring its traditional philosophical context. The Idea of Consciousness examines the problem of how the workings of synaptic connections might give rise to consciousness, and descried the current neuroscientific concepts and techniques used to identify and explore those parts of the brain that may be involved. This book will serve as an invaluable and stimulating introduction to the subject. Beautifully illustrated, it is a must for anyone who is curious about consciousness.

 

 

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