The Ghost In The Machine
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
At the crossroads of science, philosophy, and human destiny stands Arthur Koestler's The Ghost in the Machine — a sweeping, provocative critique of the human mind and the paradox of a species intelligent enough to build civilisations yet seemingly driven to self-destruction. Koestler argues that humanity is afflicted by a fundamental flaw in the architecture of the brain: an evolutionary misfire that left the rational neocortex poorly integrated with the older, more primitive structures governing emotion and aggression. Drawing on biology, neuroscience, and psychology, he presents a bold, unsettling thesis — that the violence and irrationality plaguing human history are not moral failures but neurological ones. Koestler's style is forensic yet passionate, marshalling evidence from an astonishing range of disciplines to construct an argument that is as disturbing as it is coherent. The Ghost in the Machine — its title a wry inversion of philosopher Gilbert Ryle's famous dismissal of Cartesian dualism — challenges the reader to confront uncomfortable truths about consciousness, free will, and the very nature of human progress. Decades after its first publication, its central question remains hauntingly unanswered: can a creature so magnificently complex, yet so dangerously flawed, ever truly master itself?
Author: Arthur Koestler
Format: Paperback
Genre: Philosophy
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
At the crossroads of science, philosophy, and human destiny stands Arthur Koestler's The Ghost in the Machine — a sweeping, provocative critique of the human mind and the paradox of a species intelligent enough to build civilisations yet seemingly driven to self-destruction. Koestler argues that humanity is afflicted by a fundamental flaw in the architecture of the brain: an evolutionary misfire that left the rational neocortex poorly integrated with the older, more primitive structures governing emotion and aggression. Drawing on biology, neuroscience, and psychology, he presents a bold, unsettling thesis — that the violence and irrationality plaguing human history are not moral failures but neurological ones. Koestler's style is forensic yet passionate, marshalling evidence from an astonishing range of disciplines to construct an argument that is as disturbing as it is coherent. The Ghost in the Machine — its title a wry inversion of philosopher Gilbert Ryle's famous dismissal of Cartesian dualism — challenges the reader to confront uncomfortable truths about consciousness, free will, and the very nature of human progress. Decades after its first publication, its central question remains hauntingly unanswered: can a creature so magnificently complex, yet so dangerously flawed, ever truly master itself?