This wonderful book deals with a variety of issues related to our thought and perception about consciousness; philosophical issues pertaining to the mind are addressed within the domain of neuroscience. The aim is to invite both philosophers and scientists into a rigorous dialogue about consciousness.

This carefully edited volume by Richard Brown is the offshoot of the Third Online Consciousness Conference, held at http://consciousnessonline.com in February and March 2011. The chapters vary from issues that are epistemic (our knowledge of something) to those that are ontic (what is actual). For instance, we begin with Part 1, “First-Person Data and the Science of Consciousness,” chapter 2, “Epistemology or Phenomenology?” where “unicepts” are introduced as the basic building blocks of cognition and empirical beliefs. In contrast, we have “The Ontology of Audition,” Part 7, which argues that sound can be directly perceived only by hearing, though it can be indirectly perceived by seeing or feeling (for example, wind).

Several other issues, that go deep into the philosophy of mind, such as black-and-white vision, sensation of pain, synesthesia, and visual imagery, are discussed at length with contributions from neuroscience. So are dualism, multimodal experience, and higher theories on consciousness, including dreams.

A positive point of the volume is that every section has a target essay, with comments and rejoinder by the author(s). As a result, we end up with “conversations that are highly integrated” and not merely excerpts of what had actually happened at the conference. However, I would have liked to see a discussion on the pleasure sensation as it connects with the neurotransmitter dopamine, as confirmed by neuroscientists. A negative point is the absence of an index.