Name: Absence of Mind
ISBN: 9780300145182

Marilynne Robinson

Explores the tension between science and religion and reveals how our concept of mind determines how we understand and value human nature and human civilization.

The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self

Absence of Mind

Donald

Has anyone written a serious response to this book?

Jane McCullough

Robinson challenges us to think of a place between scientific inquiry and religious beliefs that values the still unknowable "mind." She has posited a polemic that challenges our age's parascience with the continual unfolding of culture, arts, and civilization. She makes no bones about falling on the side of culture by reminding us to place some theories and assertions in their historical context, particularly Freud. 
This was a dense read and I had to warm up my academic reading skills - not a bad thing to do. I enjoyed the challenge of the read and found it thought-provoking.

Clara Jo

Marilynne Robinson is the kind of person I would very much like to sit down and have a thoughtful conversation with, but this book was much too inaccessible in my opinion (I simply am not at her level of philosophical understanding). Her stream of consciousness style of writing was at numerous points hard to follow, sometimes ironic, and her arguments in the religion-science debate lacking rigour and coherence. I do find her criticism of reductionist thinkers something I agree with - there are aspects of human nature, consciousness, and the subjectivity of lived experience that "parascience" (neo-Darwinism and Freudian thought specifically) cannot account for fully. A challenging read that delves deep into metaphysics, and one I may or may not return to in the future.

In this ambitious book, acclaimed writer Marilynne Robinson applies her astute intellect to some of the most vexing topics in the history of human thought: science, religion, and consciousness. Absence of Mind challenges postmodern atheists who crusade against religion under the banner of science.

Absence of Mind The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self