Inventing Consciousness. Emotions, Sensations, and Self-Perception

NICOLAS HUMPHREY — distinguished professor of psychology at the London School of Economics, senior professor at Darwin College, Cambridge. In 2015, he received the international Mind & Brain Prize, and in 2026 — The Dennett Prize. WE FEEL, THEREFORE WE EXIST. Conscious sensations ground us. They are crucial to our self-image as conscious beings: present, existing, and meaningful. BUT IS CONSCIOUSNESS ONLY A TRAIT OF HUMANS? Connecting intellectual adventure and cutting-edge science, Nicolas Humphrey describes his fifty-year quest for answers: from the discovery of the phenomenon of blindsight in monkeys and innovative work in social intelligence to breakthroughs in the philosophy of consciousness. The aim of the book is to solve a complex problem: to explain the astonishing fact of «phenomenal consciousness» — the redness of a poppy, the sweetness of honey, the pain of a bee sting. What does this dimension of experience boil down to? What is its purpose? And why did it develop at all? Humphrey presents a completely new and advanced solution, according to which phenomenal consciousness, far from primitive, represents a relatively late and complex evolutionary development. COMMENTARY BY T.V. CHERNIGOVSKAYA: «Nicolas Humphrey is a leading scientist, and it is remarkable that his book will meet our reader. This is a book by an experimental psychologist, an evolutionary biologist, and a subtle but powerful thinker. It is a book about life as such in its earthly, uniquely known form, about its emergence and development leading to the appearance of perception and sensations, intellect and consciousness. It is a book about the remarkable abilities of animals, including empathy, help, and compassion. In short, it is a book about our place in the world and our responsibility for it.» COMMENTARY BY K.V. ANOKHIN: «This book is a search for the nature of the origin of consciousness by one of the boldest and most original thinkers in this field. Very few scientists are able to tell this mystery of mysteries through p