1st Edition
How Our Emotions and Bodies are Vital for Abstract Thought Perfect Mathematics for Imperfect Minds
Table of Contents
List of Figures
Preface
Chapter 1. The unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics
Chapter 2. Why logic is never ideal
Chapter 3. Working memory and logical limitations
Chapter 4. Overpowered by emotion
Chapter 5. From cognition to recognition and back again
Chapter 6. Non-algorithmic thinking machine?
Chapter 7. How mathematics can outwit physiology
Afterword
Index
Biography
Anna Sverdlik is a clinical psychiatrist at Tel Hashomer, a major Israeli hospital. She specializes in brain injury and neurocognitive disorders.
This is a remarkable book, taking on the under-investigated overlap between two
very disparate worlds: on the one hand mathematics and rationality, contrasted with
emotions and embodiment. Based on the discoveries of modern affective neuroscience,
the book makes an impressive attempt at bridging the important conceptual divide
between feelings and formal thinking, a divide almost as troubling as that between
mind and brain itself. It made me think about some old ideas in quite new ways.’
Professor Oliver Turnbull, Bangor University, UK
‘Anna Sverdlik takes the reader on a fascinating journey to discover the nature of
abstract thinking from a neuroscience perspective. Using mathematics as an example,
she illustrates how our thinking is deeply rooted in a non-algorithmic component that
relies on our visceral system. The beauty and elegance of mathematics precisely lies
in the fact that it unites logical thinking supported by our neocortex with intuitions
supported by our emotions and body that have evolved to solve problems over
thousands of years.’
Dr. Melissa Libertus, University of Pittsburgh, USA
