The brain and the meaning of life / Paul Thagard.

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, [2010], ©2010.

xiii, 274 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

We all need wisdom -- Why live? -- Sources of wisdom -- Philosophical approaches -- The relevance of minds and brains -- Looking ahead -- Evidence beats faith -- Faith versus evidence -- How faith works -- How evidence works -- Evidence and inference in science -- Medicine : evidence or faith? -- Evidence, truth, and God -- A priori reasoning and thought experiments -- Minds are brains -- The brain revolution -- Evidence that minds are brains -- Evidence for dualism? -- Objections to mind-brain identity -- Who are you? -- How brains know reality -- Reality and its discontents -- Knowing objects -- Appearance and reality -- Concepts -- Knowledge beyond perception -- Coherence in the brain -- Coherence and truth -- How brains feel emotions -- Emotions matter -- Valuations in the brain -- Cognitive appraisal versus bodily perception -- Synthesis : the EMOCON model -- Emotional consciousness -- Multilevel explanations -- Rationality and affective afflictions -- How brains decide -- Big decisions -- Inference to the best plan -- Decisions in the brain -- Changing goals -- How to make bad decisions -- Living without free will -- Why life is worth living -- The meaning of life -- Nihilism -- Happiness -- Goals and meaning -- Love -- Work -- Play -- Needs and hopes -- Wants versus needs -- Vital needs -- How love, work, and play satisfy needs -- Balance, coherence, and change -- Hope versus despair -- Ethical brains -- Ethical decisions -- Conscience and moral intuitions -- Mirror neurons -- Empathy -- Moral motivation -- Ethical theory -- Moral objectivity -- Responsibility -- Making sense of it all -- Connections made -- Wisdom gained -- What kind of government should countries have? -- How can creative change be produced? -- What is mathematical knowledge? -- Why is there something and not nothing? -- The future of wisdom.