This book discusses two of the oldest and hardest problems in both
science and philosophy: What is matter?, and What is mind? A reason for
tackling both problems in a single book is that two of the most
influential views in modern philosophy are that the universe is mental
(idealism), and that the everything real is material (materialism). Most
of the thinkers who espouse a materialist view of mind have obsolete
ideas about matter, whereas those who claim that science supports
idealism have not explained how the universe could have existed before
humans emerged. Besides, both groups tend to ignore the other levels of
existence-chemical, biological, social, and technological. If such
levels and the concomitant emergence processes are ignored, the
physicalism/spiritualism dilemma remains unsolved, whereas if they are
included, the alleged mysteries are shown to be problems that science is
treating successfully.