A review by rpmiller
The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of Cultures by Antonio Damasio

4.0

Excellent book, the third of Damasio's books I have read. I decided to take up this book to investigate how feelings affected consciousness, and the depth of my understand has improved, although Damasio is my primary source for this angle. I have read other authors who pointed out the evolutionary development of the universe, life and human consciousness, particularly the theme of homeostasis, usually with different terminology, anti-entropy, for example. My first intuition on the issue of feelings for consciousness was thoughts about natural chemicals in the body that modulate mental processes and their relationship to the so-called hard problem of consciousness (see David Chalmers) which is a popular topic in philosophy of mind in these times. I should also add that my original motivation for study of mind and consciousness was political, which relates to social, and perhaps cultural issues in general. A significant portion of this book describes Damasio's views on human culture, how it developed, how it relates to homeostasis in individual human beings, and what might be next. This was a bonus for me.