Alan J. McComas

Alan J. McComas, emeritus professor of medicine and neurologist, discusses consciousness from a neurophysiological, reductionist angle. He explains self-awareness, ties memory and concept cells to recognition, and contrasts wakefulness with full conscious selfhood. He reviews historical debates, single-neuron evidence, Libet’s findings on free will, and critiques panpsychism and quantum claims.

Alan J. McComas, emeritus professor of medicine and neurologist, explains consciousness as self-awareness rooted in brain mechanisms. He traces reductionism from anatomy to chemistry, discusses neural timing and the illusion of free will, single-neuron recordings, evolution of awareness, and why memory and arousal systems matter. He also critiques dualism and speculative theories.